The Prodigy
by pandemonium135
Summary: Chapter 12 is up, marking the end of Season 1! An exchange student in Italy participates in a Duel Monsters tournament, and unwittingly draws the attention of a crime boss that hosts underground duels where mobsters bet money on "pit dog" duelists. Rated M as it progressively becomes more violent and in some chapters might have heavy language for some people.
1. Chapter 1

"Sorry I'm late, professor. I slept in. I still have a hard time adjusting to this timetable." As Bogdan barged into the classroom, panting, he apologized with a rehearsed excuse. He was up all night binge-watching Game Of Thrones on his laptop, so he slept in for class.

"Well, Brodgan…"

"It's Bogdan, sir."

"Ok, Bogdan, it's a first time, so I'm going to let it slide. But don't let it happen again." The professor scolded him.

"It won't sir, thank you." He sat down in his seat and pulled his laptop out of the bag. As he opened it, he saw his reflection in the screen. His brown hair was mess, having only been adjusted a little bit with water. He had a stubble, having only used an electric shaver instead of a razor to save time. His clothes consisted of what he took off a chair in his room full of clothes in a hurry to get dressed and on his way to the university; black shoes, black jeans and a black T-shirt with the name of a metal band on the front. His eyelids were heavy and he had brown circles under his already dark brown eyes. Student life in another country ain't easy.

"Hey, Bogdan. Hey, are you listening to me?" Ilena, a colleague from his class was trying to reach him from the row behind him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What is it?" He was trying to process what was going on as she startled him from dozing off. He was physically and mentally exhausted so he had a hard time concentrating on the lesson.

"I'm going with Alberto to the bar after lessons, wanna come with us?" She was kind of cute with that short haircut which actually accentuated her symmetrical physiognomy instead of giving off the usual lesbian vibe many girls that tried the style failed to avoid. As their gaze met, those green eyes of hers that turned blue near the iris looking back at him made him hesitate a bit, but he ultimately shook his head.

"Uh, no thanks, I'm going straight home. I have to get some sleep, I'm a wreck." Bogdan sighed tiredly.

"I can see that. Ok, as you wish. If you change your mind, let me know." Ilena was disappointed by the rejection.

"Thanks." And then he saw it. The corner of a booster pack was sticking out the pocket of her bag. -Hey, Ilena?

"What up? Changed your mind already?"

"No, not that. You pull any good?" He pointed at it.

"Huh? Oh, nah, all crap commons. You know of this game?"

"Do I? I've been hooked on it ever since I bought the three Power of Chaos PC games back in 2004. Taught myself how to play it by constantly dueling the computer and losing for a solid month in a trial-and-error sort of way. Then I discovered the damn thing had a tutorial which was hidden at the bottom of the menu, but by then I had already mastered the mechanics of the game. At least the Spartan training made me pretty good at it, I guess." He laughed.

"What sort of a deck do you use?" She wanted to see if he was lying based on what he would say would match with general Yu-Gi-Oh! knowledge.

"You think I'll tell my deck strategy just like that? And then see a side deck built to counter it? Let's leave it as a surprise for the match, ok? Unless you want to tell me your build, that is." He read her.

"I'll go with the same answer." She seemed pleased with what she heard.

"So, who else plays here?" Bogdan looked around the classroom.

"Nobody worth wasting time on, except Alberto, I guess. I've never played against any of them personally, but I've watched them play and they all lack skill in my opinion."

"All righty then. You know, guess I'll come with you after lessons."

"Sweet." She looked happy and relieved.

"Back row, either shut up, or leave." The professor warned them.

They were sitting at bar Mario, one of the best student bars in Genova, drinking coffee and talking about stuff. Bogdan was sipping his fourth cup with a cigarette between his fingers.

"Yo, listen up. Bogdan also plays Yu-Gi-Oh!" Ilena changed the subject.

"Cool, man. Welcome to the club. So how long have you been playing?" Alberto asked while offering a fist bump. He had a long curly hair that instead of falling down formed in a type of white man's afro which he tried to comb backwards and held in place with a large and wide elastic band colored like the Jamaican flag, and a Frank Zappa mustache and soul patch combination. He had a Che Guevara T-shirt and an elastic band on his left wrist with a marijuana leaf woven on it. He pulled a cigarette from his pack and Bogdan noticed that one was shorter than the rest of the cigarettes because a bit was broken off.

"Well, this is my fifth year. I started playing the PC games first, then with my friends in Romania and now here."

"And what sort of deck do you use?"

"Professional secret, sorry." Bogdan dodged the question.

"Oh, well, it was worth a try." Alberto shrugged.

"Plus it's a new build and I still haven't tested it yet, and I'm also working on some other decks at the same time, so I'll go with whichever does best on testing. Pretty simple decks really, low-budget, patched together from the limited card pool I have at my disposal at the moment, but it's something." Bogdan noticed Ilena sizing him up, unconvinced. "Please, Ilena, don't look at me like that, I'm not one you should underestimate, my card pool is limited, but not that limited, and I think you'll find the decks quite surprising, if they work in praxis as well as in theory, that is."

"Then I think we should put some, if not all decks, to the test."

"No problem, just pick the time and place."

"Tomorrow, after lessons, at Piazza de Ferrari. And try not to chicken out."

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about me, I'll be there. Same goes for you, I don't want to stand there alone like an idiot."

"Well, let's just say you'll stand like an idiot after I bitch slap you around the whole square."

"Remains to be seen." He smiled confidently.

"Don't take me so lightly just because I'm a girl, Bogdan." Ilena smiled, but Bogdan sensed a faint sign of threatening behind her smile.

"Oh, no, no, not at all. Gender doesn't play any role here. But don't take me lightly too just because I'm a foreigner who doesn't know stuff around here yet."

"Remains to be seen." She laughed.

"Now I'm noticing tension building up here, shots being fired, that kind of thing, so you both should cool your jets a little because it's a Yu-Gi-Oh! duel, not a Mexican standoff, but just so that you know, Bogdan, she's pretty good." Alberto said.

"Also, I won't use my tourney deck since you're not ready for that kind of firepower until you finish testing and build one yourself, but it should be adequate for the situation." Ilena added.

"More underestimating. Ok then, I'll split now, I wanna be rested for tomorrow because I'm on the verge of collapsing, and make some last adjustments and preparations. Bye all."

"Ciao, Bogdan." Ilena waved him off.

"You ready for this, Bogdan?" They were standing next to the fountain, duel disks strapped to their left arms and Google Glasses connected via Bluetooth to their duel disks calibrated to project Solid Vision in absence of hologram projectors, which were installed only in special dueling arenas. This was the solution for casual street duels, and anyone who wanted to spectate, if in possession of said glasses could connect via Bluetooth and see what they saw. To people without Google Glasses duelists in a street duel would simply look like madmen screaming to invisible creatures. People started gathering. Half of their class came to see this duel. Word spread out to most of the students. Bogdan figured that Alberto leaked the information. He was the most talkative from the group. He didn't mind it though. This was an opportunity to gain some fast street cred, if he were to win, of course.

"Are you?" He responded with a question.

"I like your attitude, but I hope you're not all talk."

"Heh, you'll see soon enough."

"Ok, let's get this started. Since I feel generous, I'll let you go first."

"Thanks, very gentlemanly of you, Ilena, but I'm more inclined to believe that you underestimate me, not that you're generous. Try not to go easy on me, ok?"

"Don't worry, first draw is the only advantage you get from me. Going easy on people is against my principles."

"Glad to hear that. Ok, then. I summon Iron Chain Serpent in attack position, then I activate the spell card Dimensional Fissure. Now every monster is banished instead of going to the graveyard. Then I set a card and end my turn." Bogdan initiated the duel.

"I activate the field spell card Geartown. Then I blow it up with Mystical Space Typhoon. When Geartown is destroyed I can special summon an "Ancient Gear" monster from my deck." As the clunky buildings made of rusted metal with various gears and cogs sticking out of them arose from the ground, a tornado swept in and took them apart again. She took the deck out of the disk, searched for a card and put it back in. The disk shuffled the deck automatically. "And I special summon Ancient Gear Gadjlitron Dragon in attack position." Ancient Gear Gadjlitron Dragon opened his mouth and a machine gun came out of it, and rocket launchers came out of his shoulders and wings. He prepared to fire his weapons when Bogdan interrupted.

"I activate my set trap card Threatening Roar. I know that when Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon attacks you can't activate spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step, but he hasn't attacked yet as you see, which means it's still main phase 1, not battle phase. And Threatening Roar makes you skip your battle phase for this turn. Please, finish your turn."

"That is all. You seem to have done your homework." Ilena declared the end of her turn.

"I told you not to underestimate me. I don't just focus all my time and energy on deck building, I also study other decks' play styles so I can determine their strengths and weaknesses. My turn. I activate my spell card Double Summon. Now I have two normal summons this turn. I summon Iron Chain Coil and Banisher of the Radiance. And since Iron Chain Coil is a tuner, I tune these two level three monsters to synchro summon my level six Iron Chain Dragon. Of course you know, these two monsters go directly out of game due to Dimensional Fissure' effect. Now I activate Iron Chain Serpent's effect. It can become an equip spell card and attach itself to an opponent's monster, and that monster loses 800 attack points, and when it's destroyed while this card is equipped on it, you must discard cards from the top of your deck equal to the monster's level. So Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon's original 3000 attack points are now decreased to 2200, meaning Iron Chain Dragon is stronger now. So I attack your Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon with my Iron Chain Dragon. And when he inflicts battle damage you must discard three cards from the top of your deck. So, eight cards for Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon's level plus three from Iron Chain Dragon's effect make eleven cards total and you lose 300 life points of battle damage. And all monsters among those cards go out of game, so you can't tamper with your graveyard and pull off some nasty combos. So, if we take into consideration that you have 40 cards in your deck, since it's common sense that it's best to keep it at minimum because you have the best chance to draw what you need, that means you just lost over a quarter of your deck in my second turn, and minus the six cards you drew at the beginning of your turn, that makes your deck be at 23 cards, 22 if you count your next turn's draw, which is about half of the deck. Of course you may have more than 40 cards, but that changes almost nothing as it might only postpone the deck-out by at most one more turn, by the way things are going. And I guess I have destroyed your back-up OTK strategy to fuse all Machine monsters from your field and graveyard with Overload Fusion and send them out of game in order to fusion summon an insanely powerful Chimeratech Overdragon and obliterate my life points. I figure you have that OTK strategy implemented in your deck, since the "Ancient Gear" archetype, being all-machine, is perfect for it and all it takes to do it is a Cyber Dragon and Overload fusion." She was taken aback, as it hit her like a sledgehammer. He read her deck down to the last card. It was obvious to her from the beginning that his deck was far from perfect, a simple combination of cards provided in a "structure deck" product and a five-card archetype. Dirt cheap, and all cards are commons. What she only now realized is that he was using her as an experiment to test the overall functionality of his deck and find the weak spots in it so he can try to improve it. Or find himself, establish his play-style preference. And he was right. She was taking him lightly and he used that to his advantage to completely take her by surprise and greatly reduce her chances of drawing something good and winning. And if things kept going the way they started, she was in danger of decking out and losing. "I set this last card and end my turn." Bogdan smiled. He noticed the expression of fear on her face as the realization of what he was doing hit her.

"I equip the spell card Spirit Burner to your Iron Chain Dragon and with its effect I switch it to defense position. Now I normal summon Ancient Gear Knight, then I activate another field spell card Geartown, and I blow it up again with Mystical Space Typhoon. Since it's destroyed I get to special summon another "Ancient Gear" monster from my deck. And I summon Ancient Gear Chimera. Battle! I attack Iron Chain Dragon with Ancient Gear Knight. Since your dragon has only 1300 defense points he's no match against my Knight's 1800 attack points, so it kicks the bucket. Now Ancient Gear Chimera, attack him directly!" The mechanical beast lunged at Bogdan, propelled by its hydraulic-powered hind legs and mauled him. "Iron Chain Dragon is banished, and the equip card Spirit Burner goes to my graveyard. You're down to 5700 life points while I have 7700 life points. Your turn."

"Smart. By summoning a monster with a lesser level you lower the amount of cards Iron Chain Serpent can remove from the deck, if by any chance I were to use it again. And you were right, good call. I summon another Iron Chain Serpent and I activate my trap card Return from Another Dimension. Now I can special summon as many removed from play monsters as I can by paying half my life points, which reduces me to 2850 life points and the monsters will be destroyed at the end of my turn. And I summon Iron Chain Dragon, Iron Chain Serpent, Iron Chain Coil and Banisher of the Radiance. Now I perform a synchro summoning with the exact same monsters as before and synchro summon another Iron Chain Dragon. Now I attach the two Iron Chain Serpents on your Ancient Gear Chimera and lower its attack points by 1600 attack points, 800 for each Serpent. Now it has only 700 attack points. And I attack it with one Iron Chain Dragon. You lose 1800 life points and twelve cards from the top of your deck since Chimera's level is six and there were two Serpents on it, so the effect stacks. Add to those twelve three more because Iron Chain Dragon inflicted battle damage, and you have to mill 15 cards and all monsters among them are banished due to Dimensional Fissure. Now I attack Ancient Gear Knight with my second Iron Chain Dragon and you lose 700 life points and three more cards. Now you have 5200 life points and two or three cards left in your deck. Before your turn ends the one Iron Chain Dragon that was brought from out of game with Return from Another Dimension's effect is destroyed, and one remains. Your turn." She was in panic. After the turn's draw phase she was left with only three cards remaining in her deck, which meant three more turns at most if he doesn't mill them out of game like he did with the rest of her deck. She always built her decks with 41 cards for that added extra option and because between 40 and 41 cards, the difference the extra card made to the probability to draw X card was insignificant. Also it was an excellent decision not to summon another Gadjiltron, because by now she would've lost by decking out. But, she had to do it now. It was either to risk decking out and take her chances, or lose her remaining life points.

"I activate the only card in my hand, Geartown, then I activate my last copy of Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it and summon my second copy of Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon. He was at the bottom of my deck, so that saved him from your deck destruction. Some luck, huh? I prayed that he wouldn't be milled out of game. Now, I attack your Iron Chain Dragon with Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon. You lose 500 life points and now have 2350 life points. I end my turn." Ilena finished her turn with a smile. Bogdan drew his card. He knew he overextended and spent his hand, so he was reduced to top decking. The only monsters in his deck that had over 2000 attack points are his Iron Chain Dragons. And she destroyed two out of three. His deck was relying on a quick deck destruction to win, or to reduce his opponent's life points to zero by weakening his monsters with Iron Chain Serpent enough for his dragons to overpower them. But this dragged on for too long. At this moment the most he could hope for was to find a way to protect himself for one more turn, or to force her to discard her last card in her deck in this turn, so that she wouldn't have any cards left for her draw phase and lose. The card he drew was crucial. He flipped it face-up towards him and burst into laughter.

"What? What are you laughing about?" She asked, frightened. The crowd was murmuring.

"I won, that's what. I activate my spell card Book of Eclipse. All your monsters are flipped into face down defense and when I end my turn, they're flipped in face up defense and you draw one card for each monster that was affected by this effect at that moment. So you get to draw your last card for your only monster in my turn, and when your turn comes, you won't have any cards left in your deck for drawing in your draw phase, and you will lose automatically. There's nothing you can do to prevent it." Ilena was shocked. The crowd was applauding. Then, suddenly, her expression changed from shocked to a confident smile which startled Bogdan.

"Maybe I can't stop you from making me draw my last card, but that doesn't mean the duel is over. The one who actually lost… is you." She pointed at him. The crowd watching the duel instantly went silent, with only Alberto smiling as he understood what had transpired.

"I don't get it. I'm about to end my turn, and when your draw phase comes you'll lose because you have no cards left in your deck. How can you avoid that?!" Bogdan cried.

"Pass the turn to me and I'll show you" Ilena teased him.

"Ok, I'll bite. Your turn."

"Instead of drawing, Spirit Burner allows me to add it from my graveyard to my hand. You have only 2350 life points left, and Gadjiltron, which flips back face-up after Book of Eclipse's effect wears off will wipe them out with its 3000 attack points. I win." Nobody reacted for full ten seconds. Bogdan had his index finger raised and his mouth open, ready to object. His finger then curved a little, as he closed his mouth, finally wrapping his head around what happened just now. Alberto just stood there, a cigarette in his mouth, grinning as if he saw that coming a mile away. _How good is he if he anticipated that and I didn't?_

"Duuuuude." Bogdan approached her, finally breaking the silence. "I have never, ever, seen, heard, or read about someone ever surviving a complete deck-out before. Like, ever. Well, you would've lost if I had Macro Cosmos out instead of Dimensional Fissure, which I preferred solely because of the fact that it's a spell card and I can play it right away, but still, you blew my mind away!" Bogdan was thrilled. Ilena shrugged shyly, chuckling.

"It truly was an excellent duel. Very tense and indecisive until the last card was played. Every turn each one of us made a comeback. That's a real duel, and the most fun one I've had in a long time. And you would have defeated me if Spirit Burner got milled, I never would've even noticed it being in the graveyard."

"But still, even though clearly my experimental deck was up against a completed, perfected and competitive deck, you played it very skilfully. Anybody else would've tried to boss rush me and lost." He offered her a handshake and she accepted it with a smile on her face.

"Dude, the duel rocked!" Alberto exclaimed. "At first I was like: Bogdan will win this, then I was like: Ilena has him exactly where she wants him, then: he has this in the bag, and then: Oh, my god, Ilena practically won this duel, and then I was like…"

"We get the picture Alberto, don't soil yourself." Ilena laughed. _He had no idea what was going on._ Bogdan thought.

They were sitting at Mario's again, discussing today's duel. "I guess this deck isn't your main deck, right?" Ilena asked.

"No, I have a few more I'd like to test out before I pick a main, but this duel gave me a few important pointers about the strengths and weaknesses of this deck. I still have a lot of work to do. I just know that it will definitely be a synchro deck. I still have to figure out what sort of strategy am I going to synchro summon with."

"By the way, Bogdan, I suggest you build your deck as soon as you can so you can sign up for the national Shonen Jump Tournament hosted in Milan which is three days from now." Alberto said.

"But, aren't we going to go to lessons?"

"We arranged for our colleagues to write our names, university numbers and signatures for us, so we can fake that we're present at the lessons. If you want to come with us to Milan, we can arrange the same thing for you too." Ilena answered.

"Hmm… Ok, I'll come with you. What are the prizes?"

"Free boosters and promo cards for every participant, a limited edition card for top sixteen, money prizes for top eight, and for first, second and third place trophies, money prizes, and limited edition tournament-only cards." Ilena said.

"And how many days will it last?"

"Just two days, the Italian branch of Upper Deck Entertainment organizes the tournament and pays for hotel all costs except room service. We only need money for room service, train tickets and food and drinks during the tournament. And take with you your trade binders, you might want to trade for some good cards."


	2. Chapter 2

They arrived in Milan one day before the tournament, so they can have time to rest and make some last-day adjustments to their decks. They went to the address written in the letters they received from Upper Deck Entertainment – Italy.

"Good morning, how may I help you?" The desk receptionist asked them politely.

"We have reservations in this hotel made by Upper Deck." Ilena handed the letters to him.

"Ah, you are the participants in the tournament. Ok, everything is in order, a two-bed room and a single, prepaid for three nights. Here are your keys. The elevator is just right." They went up to their floor, and unlocked one of the rooms.

"Let's leave the baggage and go out, I'm hungry and I want to go sightseeing." Bogdan said.

"But we need to prepare for tomorrow's tournament. We have to take this seriously if we are to rank high." Ilena said.

"Last time I checked, games were meant to be fun, not to be serious. And I'm not here to rank high, I'm here to have fun. Now, let's go, I've never been to Milan before."

"He's got a point, no use getting worked up over a children's' card game." Alberto agreed, and they went out. They ate in a pizza restaurant, then walked around, sightseeing the monuments of Milan. They made a lot of foolish and funny photos, and found a hobby shop, where they bought a few cards that were sold in singles. They returned to the hotel in the evening to rest up for tomorrow's tournament.

"Ok, see you tomorrow, and rest well, because going to a tournament barely awake is like going without a deck." Ilena said to the boys as they went to their room.

"Tomorrow's gonna rock. I can hardly wait. This is the first tournament of such a magnitude that I'm going to participate in." Bogdan said to Alberto as they were going to bed.

"It's pretty cool, lots of prizes, other duelists to meet, trades, just keep a constant eye on your deck and trade binder, since many robberies occur in all the commotion."

"I will, thanks for the heads up. Good night and good luck tomorrow. And if we become opponents in the match-ups, I won't go easy on you."

"With friends like you, who needs enemies?" Alberto laughed.

The tournament was held in a stadium rented specially for the event. As they entered, they were given special tournament booster packs which were prepared for every participant. Many duelists were talking and trading cards. Judges and security officers were patrolling the field, making sure everything was in order. Then the beginning of the tournament was announced. Everyone took positions as the match-ups were announced on a big screen via a projector. The first elimination round began. Bogdan was rising up the list pretty fast.

"I activate my spell card Call of the Mummy. If I don't control any monsters I can special summon a Zombie type monster from my hand. And I special summon Vampire Lord. Then I tribute him in order to special summon Vampire Genesis. Now I normal summon Malevolent Mech - Goku En. He's a level six monster but can be normal summoned without tribute, and when it is, it is send to the graveyard during my end phase and I lose life points equal to his attack, which means 2400 life points. Now I-"

"I activate my trap card Torrential Tribute. When a monster is summoned on the field I activate it and destroy all monsters on the field." Bogdan's opponent was pissed. He just spent four cards for nothing. He had 1800 life points left and was one attack short of losing the game.

"I set a card and end my turn."

"I activate my spell card Pot of Avarice. I can return five monsters from my graveyard to my deck, shuffle and draw two cards. Now I special summon The Tricky from my hand by discarding a card from my hand. Then I normal summon my tuner monster Counselor Lily and synchro summon Red Dragon's Archfiend by tuning Tricky's level five to Lily's level three. I attack you directly and that's game."

"Not quite. I activate my quick-play spell card Shrink. It halves your monster's attack points. Now, Red Dragon's Archfiend has 1500 attack points while I have 1800 life points, so I survive this turn."

"No you don't. I activate my set trap card Synchro Strike, which gives 500 attack points to a synchro monster for each monster that was used to synchro summon it. So The Tricky plus Counselor Lily give 1000 attack points to Red Dragon Archfiend's 3000 attack points, bringing it up to 4000, then it gets halved to 2000. I still win." Bogdan smiled.

"I activate Reinforcements of the Army which lets me search my deck for a level four or lower warrior type monster and add it to my hand. I pick Armed Samurai - Ben Kei. Now I activate Magical Merchant, which lets me discard cards from my deck until I reach a spell or trap card. So, one, two, three, four monsters are discarded, and the spell card Axe of Despair my Merchant's effect got to goes to my hand. Now I activate Lightning Vortex and destroy all your face-up monsters by discarding one card from my hand. I normal summon Ben Kei and equip him with Axe of Despair and Megamorph. Ben Kei's effect is to be able to attack one more time for each equip spell card attached on him, apart from his normal attack. So, Axe of Despair gives 1000 more attack points to his basic 500 attack points, and Megamorph doubles the 1500 attack points that he has now because my life points are lower than yours, since I have 700 and you have 7600. To sum up, Ben Kei can attack three times with 3000 attack points directly, since you don't have any monsters to defend with. Now, Ben Kei, attack him directly and end this duel!"

"I activate my set card Malevolent Catastrophe, which, when my opponent's monster attacks, lets me destroy all spell and trap cards on the field. On my side is only Malevolent Catastrophe, while you have two equip cards on Ben Kei, and those cards go to heck. To sum up, you attack me directly only once with a 500 attack points monster, leaving me with 7100 life points."

"Damn you! I end my turn."

"I normal summon my tuner Rose, Warrior of Revenge and activate Brain Control which, by paying 800 life points, lets me take control of an opponent's monster for the rest of the turn, and I take Ben Kei. Now I tune Rose's level four to Ben Kei's level four and synchro summon Colossal Fighter. He gets 100 attack points added to his 2800 attack points for every warrior monster in each player's graveyard. So, Rose, Warrior of Revenge and two Marauding Captains in my graveyard and twelve monsters in your, in which are included Ben Kei and the four you discarded via Magical Merchant make a total of 1500 attack points added to 2800, which on the other hand equals to 4300 attack points, far more than enough to defeat you in a single strike. And that's game." Bogdan finished.

"I special summon Cyber Dragon since I have no monsters on the field but you have, then normal summon my level one tuner Sinister Sprocket and tune them to special summon Goyo Guardian. Now I attack your Magical Android and Goyo activates its effect and special summons the monster he just destroyed on my side of the field in face up defense position. I end my turn. Magical Android's effect activates and I gain 600 life points for every psychic monster in the end phase. Magical Android is the only one so only 600 life points are added to my 7100 life points bringing me to 7700 life points, while you lose 400 life points of battle damage bringing you down to 3900 life points. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll win, that's what. I summon my tuner Junk Synchron, and because Junk Synchron is normal summoned, he can now special summon a level two or lower monster from the graveyard, and I summon my level two tuner Krebons to the field. Since now I control a tuner, I can activate Quillbolt Hedgehog's effect and special summon him from the graveyard. Now I activate my spell card Brain Control and by paying 800 life points I can take control of an opponent's monster, and I chose Magical Android. Now I tune my Junk Synchron's level three with Magical Androids level five to synchro summon Colossal Guardian. And I also tune Krebons' level two to Quillbolt Hedgehog's level two to synchro summon Armory Arm. Now I activate Armory Arm's effect and equip it to your Goyo Guardian."

"What the hell? Are you trying to lose the duel on purpose? Forfeiting is much easier, man."

"On the contrary, this is my winning move. Watch and learn. Goyo gains 1000 attack points since Armory Arm is equipped to him for a total of 3800 attack points. Now Colossal Fighter, attack Goyo!"

"Some winning move, now I get Colossal with Goyo's effect and you lose 2800 life points due to Armory Arm's effect to inflict the destroyed monster's attack points as effect damage plus the battle damage of 1000 life points."

"Wrong, wrong and right. Watch the life point counter on your duel disk." Bogdan grinned as his opponent's face changed from a confused expression to a shocked expression when he realized that it was his life points that went down by 2800.

"What the- Judge!"

"No need, I'll explain it myself. You lost 2800 life points since Armory Arm is on my side of the field and consequently under my control. So even though my monster was destroyed and I lose the 1000 life points inflicted as battle damage, it's you that loses the 2800 life points inflicted as effect damage." The judge that approached them confirmed the explanation.

"But…but I still get your monster with Goyo's effect, so what was the point?"

"Actually, you don't. I use turn player's priority to activate my monster's effect before you get to activate yours. When Colossal Fighter is destroyed in battle, he can special summon a warrior type monster from the graveyard, including himself, and that monster can attack right away, since it's counted as a new monster while still in the battle phase." The judge confirmed this as well.

"So that means you can repeat the same thing over and over until I lose all my life points?"

"Now you're catching on. And I have enough life points to lose in order to keep going on. I had 3900 at the start of the turn, then I spent 800 for Brain Control, then I lost 1000 life points worth of battle damage. Now I have 2100 life points. You, on the other hand, had 7700 and lost 2800 which lowered your count to 4900 life points. So, two more attacks will cost me 2000 life points to inflict 5600 life points and win with just 100 remaining life points.

"This is bullshit." His opponent scooped.

The top four were announced on the big screen. Bogdan VS Giacomo, and Ilena VS Pasquale. As they saw the match-ups on the screen, they exchanged looks.

"If you don't stand on the opposite side of that tennis court tomorrow, I'll kick your ass." Ilena said with a smile.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. You still owe me a rematch anyway." Bogdan smiled back.

"The semifinals will be conducted tomorrow. Everybody who wants to watch, can come tomorrow, entrance is free. Thank you all for participating." A judge spoke on the microphone. Everybody started pushing their way through the crowd in an effort to exit the stadium.

"Damn, four hours inside without a cigarette, I thought I'd go crazy." Said Bogdan as he lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply.

"Let's go find Alberto and celebrate that we got into the semifinals." Ilena looked around for him.

"Looks like he didn't do too well, so this should cheer him up a bit." Bogdan smiled.

"Good idea, we'll divide the cost. But you don't know him very well. He didn't do too well because he doesn't take it seriously. He played a god damn Ojama deck, which isn't even his main deck! I mean what's the point of going to a national tournament if you aren't hundred percent prepared?" Ilena exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"While you aren't wrong and on tournaments people should play to win, I think Alberto just doesn't care all that much about the tournament. He's here simply to have fun with a silly deck and troll people with it. I approve of trolling regardless of time and place." Bogdan explained.

"'Sup y'all, congrats on making it to semifinals!" Alberto found them first.

"Hey Alberto, sorry you didn't rank high, man." Ilena said.

"Not to worry, girl, I have a Dutchie that can take care of that for me." Alberto said with a wide grin on his face.

The next morning everybody gathered in the stadium. The judge announced that the duels were going to take place outside, on a tennis court. Bogdan noticed cameras from different Italian televisions placed on various angles around the court so it could give a dramatic live feed to the public watching at home. The kid named Giacomo stepped down the stairs of the seats and took his place opposite Bogdan. He looked young, around 15 years old, only the top part of blonde his hair was about five centimeters long and combed to the left, the rest of it was cut very short. The judge approached then and they exchanged their decks for shuffling. Bogdan offered a handshake, but the kid took advantage of that to pull a handshake joke. Some of the crowd laughed. Ilena groaned.

"Look at Bogdan's face, man! It's been twenty seconds since they met and he's already tired of this brat's shit! Priceless!" Alberto was laughing. The coin was tossed up the air. The judge caught it and announced the winner of the coin toss. The winner was Giacomo. He inserted his deck in his duel disk, which activated it, and initiated the duel.

"I normal summon Elemental Hero Stratos, which lets me search out an Elemental Hero monster from my deck, and I search Elemental Hero Prisma. I end my turn." Giacomo gestured a "come at me" sign with his fingers. Bogdan rolled his eyes and drew a card.

"Little shit, I'll show you." He murmured under his breath as he played his first card. "I activate The Tricky's effect, which lets me special summon him without tribute by discarding a card from my hand. And I discard Quilbolt Hedgehog. Now I normal summon my tuner monster Hanewata and synchro summon Iron Chain Dragon by tuning Hanewata to The Tricky. Iron Chain Dragon, attack his Elemental Hero Stratos!" The dragon breathed a corrosive mist from its mouth which immobilized the humanoid, then whipped it with a chain, destroying it. "You lose 700 life points and the top three cards from your deck are milled to the graveyard since Iron Chain Dragon inflicted battle damage. I set two cards and end my turn."

"Yeah, Bogdan drew first blood! That's the way to go!" Alberto yelled from the audience.

"Don't get cocky just because you poked me for some damage. Stratos had served its purpose and I don't need him anymore. I summon Elemental Hero Prisma. Now his effect activates. If I show you a Fusion monster from my Extra deck, which is this one, Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman, I can chose to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard which is listed on this card as one of the fusion materials. And when I do that, Prisma's name is changed to that monster's name. So I choose Elemental Hero Necroshade from my deck and discard it to the graveyard. Now I activate Polymerization and fuse Prisma on the field, which is Necroshade now, and Elemental Hero Wildheart in my hand in order to summon Necroid Shaman. And when he's special summoned I can destroy one of your monsters instantaneously, so Iron Chain Dragon leaves the premises. Now that Necroid Shaman destroyed a monster with its own effect, he will special summon a monster of my choosing from your graveyard to your field. I special summon Hanewata and attack it with Necroid Shaman!" As Necroid Shaman fired a beam of energy aimed at the little monster, one of the set cards raised itself to reveal a trap.

"I activate my set card Magic Cylinder. Now your attack is redirected back to you and you lose 1900 life points, equal to Necroid Shaman's attack points." The energy burst from Necroid Shaman's attack entered in the cylinder, then the cylinder turned 180 degrees and discharged the burst straight at Giacomo, who braced himself. "And now you have 5400 life points. Continue your turn, please."

"I set a card and end my turn." Giacomo exclaimed.

"My turn." Bogdan said. "I normal summon Marauding Captain, then with his effect special summon Counselor Lily, and tune the two monsters' levels to synchro summon Gaia Knight, Force of Earth, and I pay 500 life points so Counselor Lily can power Gaia up for 1000 more attack points, meaning Gaia now has 3600. So now I attack your Necroid Shaman with it." The fabled horseman charged for the kill, lance up and aimed at Necroid Shaman. But Giacomo pressed a button on his duel disk and a trap revealed itself.

"I activate my trap card Mirror Gate. When an Elemental Hero I control is attacked, I can switch control of the two monsters, which means Necroid Shaman is your monster now, and Gaia is mine, and the battle continues as announced. Now you lose the difference between Gaia's attack points and Necroid Shaman's attack points which is 1700, and after the damage calculation, you get back Gaia. Now you have 5800 life points and it's still your turn." Giacomo smiled. Bogdan narrowed his eyes in agitation. The kid clearly had the upper hand here, but Bogdan was far from falling down defeated yet.

"Whoa, this kid is good." Alberto said.

"But Bogdan doesn't give in either." Ilena noticed Bogdan's murky look in his eyes, and she instantly knew that he plans something, but she wasn't exactly sure what, since he had no cards in his hand and was reduced to topdecking.

"Now we will finally be able to see for sure which monsters are better, the fusions or the synchros. They both go in the extra deck, and require a special method to be summoned on the field and have sick effects and stats. And both Bogdan and Giacomo rely on their Extra decks for winning duels, since the best monsters in their decks are there. I have a feeling this will be a battle worthy of being the semifinal duel in this tournament."

"Yeah, that much is true, and both their decks have strengths and weaknesses. The limitation of the extra deck severely impacted the Elemental Hero decks and everyone that uses them has to be extremely careful which fusion monsters to put in since there is an enormous choice, seeing as the Heroes have been here for a long time now, but that also means that there is a far larger Elemental Hero support which could prove to be detrimental to Bogdan." Ilena said.

"But, as the saying goes, experience should fear the strength of youth. Bogdan has a far simpler choice for his Extra deck because the synchro monsters have been recently introduced, and has built his deck to synchro summon extremely powerful monsters extremely fast. But if he doesn't manage to do that, he's done for." Alberto said.

"Well, we shall have to wait and see how this plays out. It's still Bogdan's turn, so he still has time to do something." Ilena never would have guessed how right she was.

"You think you're the only one with tricks up your sleeve, huh? Well watch this. I activate my trap card Urgent Tuning, which performs an instant synchro summoning in the battle phase by tuning Hanewata to Gaia in order to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon. And now that you have a clear field, it's like a runway for my Dragon to stomp on your neck for 2400 life point direct damage. And I end my turn. You have 3000 life points. Your move."

"I activate Necroshade's effect. When he's in the graveyard, I can remove him from play to normal summon a high level Elemental Hero monster without tributes. And I summon Elemental Hero Bladedge, and attack Black Rose Dragon. Now you lose 200 life points, because Bladedge has 2600, while Black Rose has 2400, and are down to 5600 life points." The gold-clad warrior slashed Black Rose Dragon down the middle, blowing it up in countless pixels. "Your turn."

"I set a monster and end my turn." Bogdan's turn was a simple one; he just set the monster he drew, because that was his only card.

"I attack your set monster with Bladedge. And when he battles with an opponent's monster that's in defense mode, he inflicts the difference of his attack points and the set monster's defense points as battle damage."

"My set monster is Morphing Jar, and its flip effect activates, so we both discard our hands and draw five cards. My hand is empty, so I get five free cards, while you discard three to get five."

"But Morphing Jar has only 600 defense points, and the difference of 2000 is inflicted to you as battle damage so you have 3600 life points left. I set two cards and end my turn."

"I summon Marauding Captain and with his effect special summon my tuner Krebons on the field. Now I tune the levels of the two monsters to synchro summon Magical Android on the field. Now I activate my spell card Synchro Blast Wave, which can be activated when I control a synchro monster and lets me destroy a monster on my opponent's side of the field." The techno-wizard raised its staff and fired a sonic wave aimed at Blade Edge who bellowed in pain while trying to cover his ears. Giacomo responded with another trap before Blade Edge would be destroyed.

"I activate my set trap card Edge Hammer as a chain response, which lets me tribute Bladedge before you destroy it, and destroy a monster on the field and inflict damage to my opponent equal to the destroyed monster's level times 300. So 300 times five is 1500, and you have 2100 life points left and I intend to change that fact."

"We'll see. I set two cards and end my turn."

"Now it's the time to finish this once and for all." Giacomo said as he looked at the drawn card. Bogdan narrowed his eyes again, only this time in alertness, but other than that, he didn't miss a beat. Alberto and Ilena jumped on their feet, apparently shocked.

"I activate my spell card E – Emergency Call which lets me search my deck for an Elemental Hero monster and add it to my hand. I choose Elemental Hero Ocean. Then I activate Reinforcements of the Army, which lets me search my deck for a level four or lower warrior monster, and I choose Elemental Hero Woodsman. Then I activate yet another spell card, Fusion Sage, which lets me search my deck for the spell card Polymerisation and add it to my hand. Now I activate that Polymerisation and fuse Elemental Hero Ocean and Elemental Hero Woodsman and summon Elemental Hero Terra Firma. Now just to be safe I activate my spell card Miracle Fusion. I can remove from play from my field or graveyard fusion material monsters listed on an Elemental Hero fusion monster and special summon that fusion monster, and this process is treated as a legitimate fusion summon. So I remove Elemental Hero Wildheart and Elemental Hero Bladedge and summon Elemental Hero Wildedge. I believe that a 2500 and 2600 attack point monsters will be quite enough to defeat you, even though I cannot first remove your set cards, since I'm out of cards myself. So if you manage to negate one attack, the second will definitely hit you. Now, Terra Firma and Wildedge, attack his-" But Bogdan, who was just standing there with an unimpressed expression on his face, looking at the heroes as they took their battle stances, a magic ball in Terra Firma's hands, and a large two-handed broadsword in Wildedge's, interrupted Giacomo.

"But what If I stop them both? I activate the trap card Threatening Roar. Now your battle phase is automatically skipped."

"I end my turn. You're just postponing the inevitable, Bogdan. You _will_ lose." Giacomo emphasized the word.

"Big words for someone who just played his last turn." Bogdan smiled as he saw the card he drew when his draw phase came.

"What? What do you mean?" Giacomo was confused.

"Obviously. I mean I'm going to end this duel now. I activate my set trap card Revival Gift which lets me special summon a tuner from the graveyard, and I special summon Counselor Lilly on my field, and two Gift tokens on your side of the field in attack position." The angel doctor appeared in front of Bogdan, and two black gelatin-looking little fiends showed up on Giacomo's side. "Now I activate my spell card Pot of Avarice, which lets me return five monsters from my graveyard to my deck and draw two cards after that. And I choose the two Marauding Captains, Gaia Knight - Force of Earth, Magical Android, and Hanewata. Now I can draw the two cards." He looked at them and grinned satisfactory. "Exactly what I hoped for." Then he showed a card from his hand to Giacomo. "As you can see, Giacomo, this was the card I drew at the beginning of the end of this duel." Giacomo was petrified. He knew it was over the instant he looked at the card. Then Bogdan inserted it in the spell/trap slot in his duel disk and activated it. "I activate Lightning Vortex and discard The Tricky as a cost to destroy all your monsters." Four lightning bolts struck each of the monsters on Giacomo's side of the field. He just watched the annihilation with awe." Now I activate the last card in my hand and this duel, Instant Fusion. By paying 1000 life points I can special summon a fusion monster of level five or lower from my Extra deck to the field, but only for the duration of this turn, after that it's destroyed. But that is of no importance, since the duel will end with the turn. I summon Ojama Knight, which is level five. Now I tune Counselor Lily to Ojama Knight to synchro summon my level eight behemoth, Red Dragon Archfiend." The fairy and the fat knight disappeared in a wormhole and from it emerged the crimson behemoth with a loud and powerful roar." Now I activate Counselor Lily's effect and boost Red Dragon's attack points by 1000 for the price of 500 life points." Lily appeared again, gave an injection with a syringe to Red Dragon Archfiend, to which he roared again, then disappeared again with a poof. The crowd started to applaud. Ilena and Alberto yelled congratulations and cheers from their seats in the crowd. Giacomo started to pull the cards from the duel disk. They all knew what took place. Red Dragon Archfiend now has an attack power of 4000 attack points, while Giacomo has 3700 life points, and when Bogdan gives the attack command, it will all be over. Bogdan gave a sign with his head and Red Dragon Archfiend growled as he flew upwards, and then swooped above Giacomo, flooding him with a large amount of fire. Giacomo didn't even see the dragon do its thing. His head was hung in disappointment and bitterness. He came so far, and the thought that he lost at the very end pained him. Alberto and Ilena jumped at Bogdan, having previously ran up to him, and began to hug him and pat him on the back and shoulders, while pouring compliments and comments on the duel. The judge approached them, managed to find Bogdan's arm and raised it upwards, signifying that he was the winner.

"Listen, Bogdan, you were brilliant back there. You managed to break through even though at the beginning the kid had the advantage." Alberto said.

"Yeah, and you ultimately showed the world that synchro monsters are far better than fusion monsters." Ilena added.

"True that, but they need a bigger card pool. The Japanese have so many more, but this legal dispute between UDE and Konami stalls the production. When the choice expands some more, then they will definitely replace fusions and rituals, except maybe for specialty and fun decks." Bogdan said, trying to avoid the theme, because he was getting a bit tired of all the praises. "You should get ready, it's time for our rematch, Ilena." He smiled at her.

"And it's gonna be legendary!" Alberto rubbed his hands in excitement.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, looks like I'll have to kick your butt again, Bogdan." Ilena laughed.

"Actually, I've been praying for this match-up, so I can have my revenge." He smiled back.

"I saw before what your deck is capable of, but do you think you have what it takes to challenge me again?"

"I am in the finals, aren't I? Did you bring your serious deck this time?"

"I'm your finals opponent, aren't I?"

"Then I guess this is going to be interesting after all."

"You can bet on it."

"I just hope you're not taking me lightly again."

"Oh, no. You've proven yourself and I'm not making the same mistake again." They went to the center of the field and a judge approached them.

"Pick a coin side." He said.

"Heads!" Ilena snapped first. _She's nervous_ , Bogdan thought. The Judge flipped the coin in the air, and caught it as it fell back down.

"Tails! You go first, kid." He pointed at Bogdan. "Now give each other your decks for shuffling, and you can start the duel." The judge announced and stepped back. They shuffled each other's decks and went to their designated places, where they put their decks in the duel disks and activated them. The four hologram projectors fixed on the four angles of the field flashed at the same time with rainbow-colored light, ready to project the 3D holographic monsters. Bogdan drew six cards and initiated the duel.

"I set three cards and a monster on the field and end my turn." Bogdan commenced the duel.

"I set a monster and two cards on the field and end my turn." Ilena almost mimicked Bogdan's move.

"I flip my set monster which is Morphing Jar, and its flip effect activates. We both discard our hands and draw five cards. Now I activate my set trap card Torrential Tribute. When a monster is summoned I can destroy all monsters on the field. And since flip summons are summons nonetheless, it is a legal activation for Torrential Tribute. So both my Morphing Jar and your set monster are destroyed."

"My set monster was Sangan, and when it's sent from the field to the graveyard I can search my deck for a monster with 1500 attack points or less. And I choose Black Salvo, because it has only 100 attack points, which makes him a legal target. Please continue." She took the deck out of the disk, searched for the desired card, and put it back in the disk after adding the card in her hand. _Well, it's to be expected she'd be unfazed by Torrential. And she searched a tuner, huh? Yes, this is a new deck, she's using. This might turn out a little more troublesome than I originally thought, but that's only gonna make this duel more fun_ , Bogdan thought.

"I see you've got some new surprises in store for me. Too bad you won't have the chance to show them to me, as I intend to end this right now!" Bogdan declared. Other than narrowing her vision in alertness, Ilena was unimpressed. "I activate my second set card which is my quick-play spell card Mystical Space Typhoon and with it I destroy your set card from the left. Heh, Dimensional Prison is such a pesky card" He scoffed as he saw the revealed card before it disintegrated into pixels. "Then from my hand I activate my continuous spell card Card of Safe Return, which lets me draw a card each time a monster is special summoned from my graveyard. And now, I activate my third and last set card, my trap card Revival Gift, which lets me special summon a Tuner monster on the field and special summons two Gift Tokens on your side on the field, both with 1500 attack and defense points. I choose one token to be in attack and one in defense mode. And I special summon Nitro Synchron that was discarded earlier via Morphing Jar's effect, and draw a card via Card of Safe Return." As the living NOS canister appeared on Bogdan's field, two gelatinous little fiends formed on Ilena's side of the field. One had its arms crossed, and the other open, signifying the battle positions. "I discard a card, this Quillbolt Hedgehog here, in order to special summon The Tricky from my hand. Now I tune my level two Nitro Synchron to my level five Tricky in order to synchro summon Nitro Warrior." A horned goblin with what looked like a jet engine for a tail appeared with a roar on the field. "Because Nitro Synchron was used to synchro summon Nitro Warrior, I can draw a card. And last, but not least, I normal summon my tuner monster Krebons, and since I have a tuner on the field I special summon the Quillbolt Hedgehog on the field, draw a card by the effect of Card of Safe Return, and tune these level two monsters in order to synchro summon my level four Armory Arm. Now I activate Armory Arm's effect and equip it to Nitro Warrior. "Armory Arm flew up and attached itself on Nitro Warrior's right arm like a glove. "He gets 1000 more attack points and every time he destroys a monster, my opponent loses life points equal to the destroyed monster's attack points. At this point I activate Pot of Avarice and return five monsters from my graveyard to my deck, shuffle it, and draw two cards. So, Morphing Jar, Nitro Synchron, Krebons, The Tricky, and Marauding Captain, which was discarded from my hand via Morphing Jar's effect alongside Nitro Synchron, all go to my deck, and I draw two cards. And since I activated a spell card this turn after Nitro Warrior was synchro summoned to the field, he gets 1000 more attack points via his own effect. So he has 4800 attack points, 2800 base attack points and 2000 more from Armory Arm and his own effect when I activated Pot of Avarice. Nice play, huh? I disrupted your hand with Morphing Jar's effect by replacing your cards with others, I pulled off two synchro summons, I have a monster with attack points equal to more than half your life points that;s about to attack twice, which I'll explain why in due time, and I have six cards in my hand, due to all the drawing that replaced the cards I used. And if my math is correct, this should turn into a "One Turn Kill". Now, I attack the attack position Gift Token and you lose 3300 life points, and because the Gift token is destroyed-" But he never finished that sentence. Ilena interrupted him by revealing a set card.

"I activate my set card Fake Explosion. The damage calculation continues as normal and I lose 3300 life points, but the monsters that are attacked this turn aren't destroyed, so Armory Arm's effect and your second attack won't happen because the attacked monster survived. Fake Explosion also lets me special summon a Summon Reactor SK on the field from my graveyard or hand, and since I discarded one via Morphing Jar's effect, I summon Summon Reactor SK from the graveyard. Do you have anything else to do in this turn?" Ilena was still unimpressed.

"Nope. I wanted to, but I can't anymore, so I end my turn." Bogdan shrugged. She had the perfect response to his combo, dismantling it with a single trap card. He just sighed.

"I activate my spell card Double Summon, which lets me conduct two normal summons in this turn. So I summon Trap Reactor Y FI and Spell Reactor RE. Now I activate my spell card Trade In, which lets me discard a level eight monster to the graveyard and draw two cards, and I discard Flying Fortress SKY FIRE. Now I activate Summon Reactor SK's effect and send him, Trap Reactor Y FI and Spell Reactor RE from the field in order to summon Flying Fortress SKY FIRE from the hand, deck or graveyard, and I choose from the graveyard to special summon the one I discarded via Trade In. "The three World War Two airplane-looking robots started to open up small cartridges and hollow places all over their metal bodies and then combined in order to form a great World War Two bomb carrier airplane-looking robot which looked down on Nitro Warrior. Bogdan gulped with fear, but soon realized that SKY FIRE is much weaker than Nitro Warrior.

"But Moving Fortress SKY FIRE has only 3000 attack points, while Nitro Warrior has 4800, how do you intend to…an effect…what sort of effect does this thing have?"

"A great one. Watch and you'll see. I discard a card in order to destroy one card on your side of the field, and I chose Nitro Warrior." As she discarded her card, Moving Fortress SKY FIRE launched a missile, which blew Nitro Warrior up. "And Armory Arm goes with him, since it's equipped on him at the time of the destruction. Now I switch in attack position the Gift token you special summoned in defense position and attack you directly with the three monsters." The combined attack of the two Tokens and the artillery barrage from SKY FIRE caused a massive explosion on Bogdan's side of the field. Although the holograms are harmless and all the explosions and lasers are just for show, he still instinctively braced before being hit. "So 3000 attack points from SKY FIRE plus 1500 from each Gift token makes 6000 life points direct damage. Now you have 2000 life points and I have 5700. How's that for a combo? Not nearly as long and complicated as yours, but twice as destructive. Short and sweet." She grinned confidently, emphasizing the last three words.

"Very impressive, but remember I'm about to draw my seventh card. This practically guarantees a comeback of epic proportions." Bogdan smiled as well. Ilena's expression became instantly serious.

"Your turn. Do your worst." She exclaimed.

"I activate Lightning Vortex which, when I discard a card as a cost, lets me destroy all attack position monsters on my opponent's side of the field, so I discard my second Quillbolt Hedgehog." He discarded Quillbolt Hedgehog, and the next moment three thunders, out of the blue, struck the three monsters on her side of the field and destroyed them. She covered her eyes with her hand in bitterness. "Now I summon Marauding Captain, and when he's normal summoned I can special summon another level four or lower monster from my hand, so I summon my tuner Psychic Commander. Since I have a tuner on the field, I can special summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from the graveyard and draw a card from Card of Safe return's effect. Now I tune Psychic Commander's level three, Marauding Captain's level three and Quillbolt Hedgehog's level two and synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend!" The crimson dragon emerged from the synchro rings with a loud bellow, made a loop and landed beside Bogdan. "Go, my crimson behemoth, attack her directly!" Red Dragon Archfiend hovered straight up in the air, then charged at her and breathed fire over the place she was standing. It made a U-turn behind her, flew back and landed at his post behind Bogdan. "Now you have 2700 life points. I set a card and end my turn." As the smoke cleared Bogdan could see Ilena being pissed off. She yanked the card violently.

"I summon my tuner Black Salvo, and when he's normal summoned I can special summon a level four DARK machine monster from my graveyard, so I summon Trap Reactor Y FI. Now I tune Black Salvo's level three and Trap Reactor Y FI's level four in order to synchro summon Dark Strike Fighter."

"Another one of these old school aircraft monsters? You seem to have a thing for old machines. First an archetype of monsters called "Ancient Gear", which consisted of rusty, ugly machines, and now WWII planes?"

"I just like machines, and this particular WWII aircraft will ensure me victory, a thing the others failed to do. Now I activate my spell card Synchro Blast Wave, which, when I control a synchro monster, lets me destroy a monster on my opponent's side of the field." Dark Strike Fighter fired a shockwave from its hand which blew Red Dragon Archfiend to pieces. "Now, Dark Strike Fighter, attack him directly and end this duel!" Dark Strike Fighter shot two rockets from under his wings, but the set card on Bogdan's side of the tennis court raised and revealed itself before the rockets reached him.

"I activate my set quick-play spell card Shrink! It halves the attack of a monster on the field of my choosing. So Dark Strike Fighter's 2600 attack points become 1300, just a little below my 1500 life points, and I survive this turn." Dark Strike Fighter literally shrunk to half its size, and so did the two rockets that hung in the air as if the time stopped, waiting for Shrink's effect to resolve, so they can continue to their target. Then they suddenly gained momentum and blew up where Bogdan was standing.

"No, Bogdan, you don't survive." Irene calmly responded.

"What?!"

"You have only 700 life points left, which is way lower than the burn damage Dark Strike Fighter is about to inflict to you."

"Burn damage?!" He was shocked.

"Yes. You see, Dark Strike Fighter can tribute a monster and inflict damage equal to the level of the tributed monster times 200."

"But you don't have any monsters to tribute… Except… Dark Strike Fighter himself!" Bogdan understood.

"Exactly. Dark Strike Fighter can tribute my monsters, including himself, and inflict the burn damage. So I activate his effect and destroy him to defeat you. Like in chess, you have to sacrifice some pawns in order to achieve victory. This duel goes to me, Bogdan."

"Wrong. This duel isn't over yet."

"What?!" But Dark Strike Fighter already blew himself and just before the counter of Bogdan's duel disk started to decrease towards zero, he discarded a card. The decreasing stopped, and his life points went back to 700.

"What did you just do?" Ilena asked, visibly frightened by the unpredicted outcome of the situation.

"I discarded Hanewata."

"So? What does that card do?"

"It's a level one LIGHT fairy tuner with a nifty little effect. When I'm about to receive burn damage, I can discard Hanewata and negate it."

"What!? You sneaky little…" Ilena stopped herself before she said something she would later regret. There were mixed exclamations from the crowd, those that were cheering for Bogdan were relieved, and those that were rooting for Ilena were disappointed. "Ok, you weaseled your way out of the danger this time. But with only 700 life points next turn you will definitely lose. I set the two cards in my hand and end my turn."

"We'll see about that, depends on what I draw. I activate my spell card Reload. I can return all cards from my hand to my deck, shuffle, and then draw the same number of cards I returned. So I redraw three cards." Bogdan shuffled his hand back in the deck and drew three cards, slowly, one by one, looking at each card before drawing the next. A smile grew on his face with every drawn card. "Yes! Time to end this duel!" He laughed. She lost all color from her face. The crowd was under pressure of all the suspense and was waiting eagerly for the development of this situation. "First I activate my spell card Heavy Storm, which lets me destroy all spell and trap cards on the field, so your back row protection goes to hell."

"Not so fast! I activate the trap card Threatening Roar as a chain to your Heavy Storm! Now you cannot declare battle for the rest of the turn."

"God damn it, I almost had you that time. I activate One Day of Peace, which lets us both draw a card and neither of us takes any damage, battle or effect, until the end phase of your next turn. That should keep me safe for the moment. I set a card and that concludes my turn."

"Allow me to thank you for One Day of Peace since not only have you given me the card I needed to defeat you, you've basically given me the opportunity to do this! I activate my spell card Soul Charge! It lets me summon as many monsters as I want from my graveyard, but I take 1000 points of damage for each monster I summon. Since One Day of Peace prevents me from taking any sort of damage, this part of Soul Charge's effect doesn't apply."

"How could I have been so stupid!?" Bogdan cried out in despair, slapping his forehead.

"Don't hit yourself, you had no idea I had that card in my hand." Ilena smiled compassionately, then turned serious again. "But that doesn't mean I'll go easy just because of your little blunder. I summon Dark Strike Fighter, Summon Reactor SK and Black Salvo. Now I tune my level three Black Salvo to my level five Summon Reactor SK and synchro summon Dark Flattop in defense mode." A giant plane with a runway built-in on top of it and a metallic ring on its far side slowly emerged from the synchro portal above her. Bogdan checked its stats. It had zero attack and 3000 defense points. _Ho-boy. What the hell does this thing do now?_ "At this point I activate its effect! If I have a Flying Fortress SKY FIRE in my graveyard that was previously special summoned successfully I can special summon it ignoring its summoning conditions. Come forth again, Flying Fortress SKY FIRE!"

"Not him again! Well, this time you won't catch me by surprise because I know now how the card works. Chain! I activate Call of the Haunted! I select from my graveyard Red Dragon Archfiend and special summon it, then Call equips itself to Red Dragon, and if it's destroyed, Red Dragon goes with it. This way, since Flying Fortress SKY FIRE isn't on the field yet, you can't destroy Red Dragon with its effect when it's summoned." First the crimson behemoth flew from a hole in the ground manifested by the effect of Call of the Haunted and landed beside Bogdan, then the metallic ring on Flattop's far side produced a portal from which the bomber plane flew out and transformed in a giant robot mid-air, then landed beside Dark Strike Fighter. "Also, you have no cards in your hand and can't discard to destroy cards on my side of the field with SKY FIRE's other effect, and since One Day of Peace's protection is still active, Dark Strike Fighter's effect is useless until your next turn. That should give me the next turn to do something about this predicament. "Bogdan explained.

"You really don't know when to give up, do you? It's over, Bogdan, save some face and forfeit this duel! On my next turn Dark Strike Fighter will burn you for about 2000 damage, SKY FIRE will burn you for 800 damage if you set cards or summon monsters. If by some miracle you manage to destroy SKY FIRE, Dark Flattop will simply bring him back again for free, and not to mention the battle phase itself. Give up, please." Ilena pleaded. Bogdan just smiled as he prepared to draw. This enraged Ilena. "Have it your way then. I end my turn. I'll even tell you how it's going to go. You can't set or summon anything because you'll lose your measly 700 life points, nor you can switch Red Dragon Archfiend in defense, because both SKY FIRE and Dark Strike can run over it. You'll probably attack Dark Strike Fighter, destroy it and inflict 400 points of battle damage. Then I'll draw, discard the card I drew to destroy Call of the Haunted, then attack you directly with SKY FIRE. But please, by all means, your turn. Show me what you got!" Ilena exclaimed. Bogdan drew his card and started laughing again. This pissed Ilena off to no end. "What's so damn funny now?" She demanded.

"You know, I built this deck with a goal in mind that the 41 cards in it should be capable of handling any sort of obstacle presented before them, mostly because nobody ever plays match duels, and therefore doesn't use a Side Deck. So I tried to cram in as much stuff as I could and keep it cohesive, and also give it an answer to a myriad of specific situations. For example, my deck is full of weak monsters that combine themselves to pull the strong synchros, right? So I was thinking, what if my opponent had a boss monster out and I had only wiener monsters in hand? Or what if I had a boss monster out and my opponent took control of it to use it against me? So I added cards that act as a solution to these two exact situations, and several others I thought I might encounter along the way. If these cards were to be a dead draw at any other point I could simply toss them to summon The Tricky or as a bluff trap cards." Bogdan droned on. Ilena rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Get to the point, Bogdan." She snarled.

"Ok, then. I have two spell cards in my hand. SKY FIRE doesn't activate when I activate spells or traps, only sets and summons, so I can freely use them. First I activate Creature Swap! We both select a monster on our respective side of the field, and swap control of them. I only have Red Dragon Archfiend, so you can have that one."

"That's your big play? Here, take Dark Flattop, both Red Dragon's and SKY FIRE's effects can destroy it effortlessly." Ilena scoffed as both monsters hovered to the other side, switching places.

"Excellent! I was counting on you giving me Dark Flattop. Don't get me wrong, it was the logical choice and I would've done the same. At first I was thinking of giving Red Dragon and ending, this activating its effect of destroying all monsters on its side of the field that didn't declare attack this turn, but I had no way of dealing with it later when you'd inevitably attack me with my own monster, so I came up with this alternative. I switch Dark Flattop in attack mode, and activate my second spell card, Owner's Seal! Now we both regain control of our own monsters, meaning you get back Dark Flattop, and I get back Red Dragon Archfiend." Now they hovered back to their original position.

"Oh, fuck me!" Ilena realized what Bogdan did. He repaid her for her win back in Genoa, when she survived total annihilation of her deck with a card he completely disregarded, with the stupidest combo in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. And worst part is, this is broadcast live across Italy, then it will be uploaded on the internet for the rest of the world to see. Fucking great. She sighed, then chuckled. _Well played, Bogdan. Well played indeed._

"Maybe later. Red Dragon Archfiend, attack Dark Flattop and end this duel once and for all!" The dragon spread its wings and soared up in the air, then swooped and engulfed the carrier in flames, causing it to explode, emitting a shockwave that made all other hologram projections disappear.

"And the winner is… Ok I'm gonna mess this up… Bard… Blod… This kid!" The judge exclaimed.

"It's Bogdan." _You inbred._ Bogdan sighed as he approached Ilena. He got over the fact that his name was too hard for the Italians a long time ago.

"Right, um, what you said." The judge was a little embarrassed.

"Listen, Ilena. I'll be damned if I didn't sweat myself up good this duel. You almost got me that time with Dark Strike Fighter's effect. At the first moment I didn't notice Hanewata in my hand, so I got pretty spooked." Bogdan admitted.

"Yeah, he's pretty sweet, isn't he?" She smiled at him.

"Hell yeah. Wanna trade for him? I could use him in my own synchro deck."

"You nuts? Of course not, he's the ace of my deck!"

"Well, don't blame me for trying." Bogdan laughed.

"Aw, hell, you guys, why do you have to make all your duels so tense? I almost got a heart attack up there as Bogdan pulled himself out of the shit with Hane-whatsitsname back there." Alberto said, excited over the duel.

"It's Hanewata." Bogdan laughed.

"And that combo, dude! Blew my mind right out of my skull! You took her monster just to switch its battle position for her, then gave it back to her before attacking it! Freaking hilarious, dude! Now I've seen crazy stuff happen, but what you guys do when you duel each other is simply breathtaking!

"Well, we have to give our adoring public a good show." Bogdan smiled and bowed to the crowd. He was awarded a tournament-only ultra-rare Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode, a giant check with a hefty sum written on it and a golden trophy representing the Millennium Puzzle encased in Plexiglas and a mahogany base. Then they were approached by photographers wanting the top three duelists to pose together. Ilena was awarded a silver medal representing the Millennium Ring, a much smaller sum of money, and a tournament-only ultra-rare card. Giacomo was awarded a bronze trophy representing the Millennium Rod and a tournament-only limited edition super-rare card. The reporters swarmed them and began to pour them with questions.

"Mister Bogdan, how and when did you begin to play this game?"

"Sir, what are your thoughts on this tournament? Was it too difficult for you to advance upwards through the qualifications?"

"Do you think you can do as well on the World Championship after two years?" They managed to answer several questions and then got to the cab that was waiting to return them to the hotel.

Later that day, back in Genoa, Bogdan went to the internet café where he always frequented and sent nearly 80% of the prize money to his family via Western Union. The lady that worked there was amazed of the amount of money she was holding in her hands. He told her that it was a lottery prize, because he wanted to spare himself any unnecessary explanations. On his way home he was approached by a well-dressed Italian gentleman, a little on the chubby side, but otherwise his appearance was flawless.

"Excuse me, are you the newly-crowned national Yu-Gi-Oh! champion?" He inquired.

"Who wants to know?" Bogdan was cautious, for something was telling him that this guy was bad news.

"I am a… Talent seeker, if you will, and I offer you my services to represent you. My name is Bruno Lomellini, and here's my business card. What I offer is to be your manager. I can organize your duel appointments, arrange hotel stays for tournaments, and I know of a place where there are duels with lots of money involved, but are of a more… Discrete nature than the tournament you just won." The gentleman explained, choosing his words carefully.

"You mean illegal underground duels?" Bogdan made no effort to be as subtle.

"I wouldn't choose that set of words." He looked around, as if afraid someone could overhear.

"No thank you, I have no wish for legal or any other sort of trouble here in Italy. And I have no desire to be a pit dog for anybody else, to have money bet on my head." The man narrowed his sight at him. Bogdan turned to leave, but was stopped by what the man said next.

"You may need the money. You never know what the future has in store for you. Imagine if something happened to your family, and since they send a great deal of their salaries to you because you're a simple university student, they can hardly afford any decent medical care in case of illness or injury." Bogdan turned to face him.

"Is that a threat?" Bogdan clenched his fists, although unsure he could take him. He tried to pass it as a bluff.

"A friendly word of advice." Bruno saw through it.

"I still stand behind what I said. No thank you." Bogdan was adamant.

"At least keep the card in case of any…events…that would change your mind." There was something ominous behind the man's last words.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm in." Bogdan growled.

"Wonderful." The voice on the other side of the line responded.

"Just answer me one thing. How did you pull it off?" He was shaking with anger, barely suppressing the urge to scream out the colorful palette of profanities flooding his brainwaves.

"I have connections and financial resources to do such a thing. You know, I know a guy who knows a guy. That's all you need to know. So, you'll do it then?" Bruno was cheerful, which pissed Bogdan off even more. A few days after he encountered Bruno for the first time, Bogdan's mother called him, crying on the phone, to say that his father was in a car crash that broke his vertebra. He was immediately transported in an ambulance van to Romania's capital, Bucharest, for an urgent surgical treatment to save his spinal column and the ability to walk by implanting titanium rods to hold it in place while it heals. That kind of surgical treatment is very expensive, costing an amount of money they didn't have on hand. Everyone in his family, and some close friend chipped in to pay the minimum deposit so that the surgery could go underway. That left them with an astronomically expensive hospital bill, to be paid in less than a month. An amount of time far too short to get that kind of cash legally. Bogdan remembered Bruno's vague threats, and with the time interval between them and the accident it didn't take Sherlock to piece it together. How could the bastard be so damn happy after doing such a hideous thing to a kid he didn't even know? It's a sick world we live in. He had no choice. Bogdan instantly turned stone cold and cleared his throat.

"When and where?" In a calm, composed voice, he inquired.

"It's still early. You'll receive further instructions in the near future. For now, I'd like you to submit me a wish list of cards you think you might need to further improve that champion deck of yours to an email which you should receive any minute now via SMS, and I'll see to it that you get them. You see, I'm not such a bad guy after all. You'll become the best and most famous duelist, and I'll make a lot of money. Of course, you'll get your fair share, too. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours, no? Look, you have to understand that what I did to her was necessary, you looked like you needed a little more… Convincing, if you catch my drift. After all, that injury isn't as bad or as expensive as you-" Bogdan smashed the cell phone against the table. The battery flew off of it. He stood there for a few moments, then lit a cigarette, pulled the deck form the duel disk and spread it across the table. _No use worrying about it now. What I can do is play along for now, and wait for an opportunity to strike back. And I will. You can bet your ass on it, Bruno, I'll get you. Now, let's see here, how can this deck be improved? Maybe I can find some ideas on the internet?_

"Yes, I'm coming right away." Bogdan hung up and exited the apartment. He got down to a car that was waiting for him. The driver opened the door for him. As he entered he saw Bruno sitting next to the window on the other side, smoking. He lit a cigarette as well.

"Hello there, my young prodigy! Ready to become famous?"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not in the mood. Let's get this over with."

"Good. Fuel that anger and channel it through a duel. Give that poor sap dueling against you the beating of his lifetime." Bogdan didn't respond. The rest of the drive was a silent one. They arrived to a seemingly abandoned building. The windows were broken, the letters on the front wall were fallen off, and the yard was untended. Just as they got out of the car, it drove away. "We don't want to attract attention. Imagine how it would look if many expensive and beautiful limos would be parked in front of a building such as this." Bruno explained. They walked inside, and down a set of rusty metal stairs into a big underground space. "It used to be an assembly room. Lots of conveyor belts, machinery, and all that. Then the company went bankrupt, and we bought the place really cheap and remade it into an arena." Bruno talked all the way.

"Who's _we_?" Inquired Bogdan.

"People like me that want to make money out of this type of dueling." Bruno responded. Bogdan looked around to check the people out.

"Are all these people mafia?"

"Yes. Mobsters, mafia, pimps. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. These people are a better guarantee of asshole-ry than a digestive system, and yield uglier results."

"But aren't you a part of this group?" Bogdan raised an eyebrow.

"Don't lump me in the same group as them, my friend. I've been treating you like royalty from day one. If you were under anyone else here it'd be a very different and far less pleasant experience for you." Bruno explained. Bogdan just made a dissatisfied grunt as a response. He started examining his surroundings. He could tell that heavy money was being put on his and his opponent's heads. There was a makeshift bar selling booze. Bogdan could notice only expensive brands on the shelves behind the barman. They came to the edge of a huge pit."And this is where you'll duel." Bruno slapped the pipe fence in front of him cheerfully. Bogdan noticed a middle aged man with a duel disk on the other side of the pit. He had a shaven head and a scar running from his temple down across his cheek.

"The duel must've been pretty intense if he ended up with a gash like that." Bogdan sneered. Bruno just looked at him and ignored the remark.

"He's your opponent. They say he's pretty strong. Nobody ever sees his manager. He does all the arrangements over phone and internet. Paranoid fellow. But now, it's time. Go down there and show them how a champion does it." Bruno tapped Bogdan on the shoulder as he showed him to the ladder. The other duelist also climbed down. Everybody went to the betting table to place their money. A judge showed up on the edge of the pit, threw a coin, and after viewing the result, announced the beginning of the duel.

"Challenger goes first!" He shouted, pointing at Bogdan. Bogdan drew six cards and initiated the duel.

"I discard my Assault Beast in order to search my deck for the trap card Assault Mode Activate. Next I set four cards and a monster facedown. That's all."

"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your-" But the mobster was interrupted.

"I activate my set card Dark Bribe, I negate your spell card and you draw one card." The set cards were an integral part of Bogdan's strategy and he couldn't afford to lose even one of them.

"Ok then, I activate my spell card Future Fusion. It lets me send from the deck to my graveyard the fusion material monsters listed on a fusion monster, and after two turns, I can summon it on the field. So I send Phoenix Gearfried and Dark Valkyria and choose Raptinus the Superalloy Beast. Now I summon Marauding Captain, and when he's normal summoned I can special summon another level four or lower monster from my hand, and I special summon the Gemini monster Future Samurai. Then I activate Symbols of Duty which lets me tribute a normal monster and then special summon a monster from either mine or your graveyard, and I tribute Future Samurai to special summon Phoenix Gearfried from my graveyard and equip it to him. Now with Marauding Captain I attack your set monster." The mercenary jumped up and sliced the set card in two. The pieces flipped to reveal a broken jar with a face on it before disappearing.

"My set monster is Morphing Jar, so we both discard our hands and draw five new cards from our decks."

"How convenient. Now I attack you with Phoenix Gearfried directly, and you take 2800 damage to your life points, which lower you to 5200." The paladin drew his sword which caught fire upon being drawn from its sheath and stabbed Bogdan. "I set a card and end my turn. Have you ever dueled against Gemini monsters?"

"No, but I know how they work. They have nasty effects, but the trouble is that, as the name implies their dual nature, they are normal monsters in the graveyard and on the field until their effects are activated. You have to spend your one normal summon per turn on a Gemini monster on the field so you can perform a so-called second summon and switch it from normal to effect monster. Simply put, each monster needs to be summoned twice. Which is pretty slow, by the way. The slowest way is to waste two turns on one monster, one normal summon to place it on the field, then next turn to switch it to effect mode. But I presume your deck is made to work around that setback, with Gemini support and cards that give more than one normal summon, and probably you also have that normal monster support too. So technically, Phoenix Gearfried is just a vanilla beatstick for the time being. But you most likely intend to swarm the field with monsters until you find a way to activate their effects." Bogdan explained. Scarface was surprised at first but quickly regained his composure.

"Exactly. And when the two turns pass and Raptinus is summoned, the Gemini monsters will be summoned as effect monsters right away. That's his effect, to make all Gemini monsters effect monsters without second summoning them. Then you're finished." He laughed manically.

"Don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash, dude. This duel will never come to that point." Bogdan was unimpressed.

"What?!"

"Observe. My turn. I activate my spell card Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your set card. Justi-Break, huh? You wanted me to attack your monsters while they're normal so you can activate this? To destroy all monsters except normal monsters? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but these kinds of cheap tricks don't work on me. Now I activate my set trap card Call of the Haunted, which lets me special summon a monster from my graveyard, and I summon Assault Beast, then I play my spell card Emergency Teleport and special summon Krebons from my deck. And when I have a tuner monster like Krebons on the field I can special summon the Quillbolt Hedgehog I discarded via the effect of Morphing Jar. Now I tune the level two Quillbolt Hedgehog, level four Assault Beast and level two Krebons and synchro summon Stardust Dragon. At this point I activate my set card Assault Mode Activate and tribute Stardust Dragon for his upgraded version, my ace monster and the prize of the national championship I won, Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode!" He raised the card up before slapping it on the duel disk. Shining silver armor with a green bead formed around Stardust Dragon, who let out a roar as it encased its chest.

"Y-you won the national championship?" His opponent was stunned. A few people from the crowd gasped as well.

"Yes, now don't interrupt me; I still have a full hand of cards to play. I activate my spell card Reinforcements of the Army and search my deck for a level four or lower Warrior type monster, so I take Junk Synchron and summon him to the field. Now that he's normal summoned he can special summon a level two or lower monster from my graveyard and I choose to summon Morphing Jar again. Now I remove Reinforcements of the Army from my graveyard out of play to special summon Spell Striker. Time for a second synchro. I Tune my level two Morphing Jar, level three Spell Striker and level three Junk Synchron to synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend. Now I activate my spell card Pot of Avarice which lets me return five monsters from my graveyard back in my deck, then draw two cards. And the choice is simple, all monsters but Stardust Dragon go back to my deck. Then I activate my spell card Assault Teleport which lets me return an /Assault Mode monster from my hand to my deck and draw two cards, and I return my Red Dragon Archfiend/Assault Mode. You see, the one weakness to an /Assault Mode deck is if you draw the /Assault Mode monster. Then it's a dead draw, because the /Assault Mode versions of the synchro monsters can be summoned only from the deck. This leads me to the activation of my last set card, my second copy of Assault Mode Activate. I tribute Red Dragon Archfiend in order to special summon Red Dragon Archfiend/Assault Mode!" The crimson behemoth's armor was more demonic looking than Stardust Dragon's, to match its own appearance.

"No way! He made a double level 8 synchro summon AND managed to bring the two most powerful /Assault Mode monsters in existence to the field! And all in just one turn! Incredible!" Someone from the crowd exclaimed. The audience was in awe. Bogdan could hear people whispering and commenting in amazement. In any other situation this would've made him happy. But not this time. He was angry. His opponent simply watched with an expression of horror at the inevitable loss.

"They say paraphrasing is a sign of respect to the speaker. Shows that you've been listening… Or that you have poor comprehension skills. Now I activate Lightning Vortex, which destroys all your face up monsters by discarding one card from my hand. And now that your field is wiped clean, I can destroy you. Stardust Dragon, you're first." The mighty dragon blew a blue stream of energy at Bogdan's opponent and a big explosion took place. The life point counter above changed from 8000 to 5000. "Red Dragon, you're next!" Bogdan commanded. The crimson behemoth flapped his wings to get himself in the air, and then charged at the awe-struck man with a flaming fist. Another explosion echoed in the empty factory. The life points dropped from 5000 to 1500. "Red Dragon Archfiend/Assault Mode has an effect that, after he attacks, he destroys all other monsters on both sides of the field. It can be a double-edged sword."

"So that's it? He played like 15 cards and this is all he managed to do? In the end he loses his monster as well? After all the trouble he went to summon it?" The same person commented. Everybody in the audience was confused, and somewhat disappointed. But Bogdan raised a hand and everyone went silent in an instant.

"I'm not done yet. Like I said, this effect is a double-edged sword, but I had that in account when I made my strategy. I can easily play around it by activating Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode's effect. Once per turn, I can tribute him to negate any card's effect and destroy that card, and in the end phase of that turn he will return to me."

"So you're going to negate and destroy your own dragon? How is that any different?" Someone else from the audience yelled. Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode disintegrated into raw energy with the same pale blue color as his burst attack, and hit Red Dragon Archfiend/Assault Mode, just as he was preparing to destroy Stardust.

"Simple. There is one effect that any /Assault Mode monster shares. If by any chance the /Assault Mode version of a synchro monster is destroyed, both in battle and by an effect, the original synchro monster will be special summoned to the field." Red Dragon Archfiend's Assault mode armor cracked and broke into pieces which disappeared, and the crimson behemoth reverted to its original form.

"But why? You tributed it to summon the more powerful version of that monster. Why would you let it all go to waste just to end up with the same monster?" Again, someone demanded. Bogdan facepalmed.

"Are you people dense? All this occurs in the battle phase! According to the rules, if a monster is special summoned to the attacker's side of the field in the battle phase, it can attack right away. Get it now?" At that moment Red Dragon Archfiend blew his fiery breath at Bogdan's opponent and the life counter above him flashed the number 0. For a moment everybody was silent. Some were still trying to understand what happened, others were too amazed to speak. Someone made an _Ooh!_ sound as the person caught on. Someone smashed a glass against the wall in rage. _Must have placed a bet on the other guy_ , Bogdan thought. And as if that sound was the cue, everybody started applauding. Bogdan turned and climbed up the ladder as the holograms of the cards and monsters dissipated. His opponent fell on his knees. He knew he was ruined. Then again, he was dueling against the national champion, so this wasn't supposed to be much of a surprise.

"Bravo, my boy! First class victory! I expected nothing less of the national champion!" Bruno was happy as a child. He witnessed first-hand what his new protégé was capable of, and knew he would earn him a truckload of money.

"Yeah, fucking time of my life." Bogdan just walked past him and exited the building. The owner of the show approached Bruno. He looked like a vulture, bald, thin, tall, scrawny curved neck and a beak-shaped nose.

"Nice performance. Quite a gem you have gotten your dirty hands on, my friend." He said while handing him a big envelope with money.

"Yes, isn't he? He'll make me a lot of dough, Mauro." Bruno was rubbing his hands at the thought.

"Yes, yes. I have only one request. Could you tell him to make a little more of a show next time? While a 10 card combo leading to a one turn kill is pretty amazing, the audience would love if the duel lasted a tad longer. So, can I book you for next time?"

The car parked and both of them got in.

"Here you go, 30%, as agreed upon. And, next time make it last longer. Don't go for a quick kill, torture your opponent some more, or make some drama, act like you're losing, then turn the tables on him. You know, give the audience some tension, give them an adrenaline rush. You're the star, and the duel is your show, your performance, so make it look like one."

"Whatever…" Bogdan responded absent-mindedly. He didn't even look away from the window.

"Look, you don't have to be like this. Why can't you understand? Play by my rules and you will be richly rewarded. I don't ask much. You're a winner. You love this game. Just keep doing what you do best, and I'll grant you every wish. Money, glory, women, whatever you want, I can get it, no problem. If you agree to forget about the past I'll make it up to you tenfold. What do you say? Water under the bridge? Let's shake on it and agree to work together and help each other. You scratch my back, I scratch yours." Bruno raised his hand. Bogdan turned to him, enraged, but paused to think it through a bit. Then he shook Bruno's hand. Bruno smiled. "You made the right decision."

"Not like I have a choice." Bogdan showed no emotion.


	5. Chapter 5

All things in life come with consequences. Nothing ever happens without it having an impact on other events or people, like a ripple effect, affecting everything and everyone touched by it. Bogdan was already in the underground duel scene which made him miss lessons, exams, and ultimately lose the scholarship he had won because he couldn't acquire the necessary credits gained by passing exams. All this struck his two friends as very odd, especially because they hadn't seen him for a full semester. He wasn't online on Facebook, he didn't respond to phone calls and SMS messages, nothing. He moved out of his dorm room and nobody knew where he went. Bogdan had disappeared from the face of the earth. Ilena, his best female friend and rival, wouldn't give up on him and went to talk to her uncle, an investigator in a department of Italy's law system called "Divisione Investigazioni Generali e Operazioni Speciali" or DIGOS for short, an anti-mafia squad that operated on a national level, if he could pull some strings and ask for some favors in order to provide her with some valuable info regarding Bogdan's whereabouts. A few days later he called her on her cell phone. She had forgotten to set it on silent mode and the ringtone melody echoed in the classroom. The professor, an old man with zero tolerance for class disruption, scolded her. She apologized, gripping the cell phone with her hands in order to muffle the sound and ran out of the classroom.

"You almost got me kicked out of class, uncle Raffaele!" She cried.

"Sorry about that, I know you're in class, but I just got some news about your friend. He's been spotted several times in different cities with a known mafia boss. We've been tailing him for quite some time, and in the last few months we've seen him in the company of your friend. Now what are they doing together, I don't know yet." Her uncle said from the other side of the line.

"Mafia?! Damn it, Bogdan, what have you gotten yourself into! Can you do something to get him out of that shit?"

"We have insufficient evidence regarding Bruno Lomellini, that's the name of the mobster, in order to issue an arrest, or even a search warrant. He knows how to take care of his business as to remain clean. And your friend will also be in trouble for being associated with him and possibly participating in illegal activities once we discover what's really going on."

"You mean Bogdan will go to prison? But, he's just this innocent, unfortunate kid. You have to find some sort of a loophole to save him from that horrible fate."

"Well, there is a way. Usually when someone from the mafia decides to sing, we grant him all sorts of protection and immunities in exchange for valuable information that will lead to the arrest of important mafia members. There have been many cases where mafia members have sold out their fellow crime partners in exchange for their own freedom. Although that carries its own set of risks. If he gets caught while gathering info, or even suspected of treason, they'll eliminate him. It even sometimes happens after the mole got everyone arrested to be taken out as revenge. We have a witness protection program for cases like that." Raffaele explained.

"It's never easy…" She paused to think for a second, outweigh the pros and cons of the proposed solution. "If I get in contact with him and tell him this, will you promise to spare him?"

"Tell you what, if he delivers Bruno to me, he's free to go."

Bogdan had been ignoring Ilena's phone calls, messages and emails for the whole time he was under Bruno's command, not wanting to involve her in any way or put her in danger, but the last email he received made him change his mind and respond to it. Ilena had told him about her uncle and what he had said to her, and this filled him with hope, making him giddy with excitement. He was waiting for an opportunity like this and now it was finally time to forge the perfect plan to take down Bruno. Right after he responded to that email, Bogdan went out. He wasn't sure if he was followed, but he didn't want to take any chances. He switched a few cabs around the city a bit, and then stopped in front of a duel accessories shop.

"Well, well, well, I'll be a side order of Tweety at a Sylvester convention! If it isn't mister national champion. Long time no see. Thought you became a dick and forgot your old friends now that you're a big shot." The owner laughed.

"Thought I'd keep you company, I'd hate to see you being the only one with that description in the room, Roberto." Bogdan laughed too. They shook hands, which turned into a manly hug with pats on the back.

"Still cocky as ever. I'm gonna kick your ass one day, be you a star or not. So, what can I do for you today?" Roberto went back behind the counter.

"I'd like to make several modifications to my duel disk. I need a GPS tracker that can record addresses, I need a Micro SD memory card slot installed and I'll also buy a Micro SD with the most storage space you have, three miniature video cameras installed here, here and here, one miniature photo camera with the ability to be taken out of the duel disk and put back in and store the photos and videos on the Micro SD, put it where you see fit, a microphone, and an iPod, and program in a few button combinations to let me turn on the microphone and the camera in video and photo mode, but without taking away the ability to play music, I want it to be as inconspicuous as possible. Also make it connectable via USB port, and throw in a suitable cable, just in case. And write me an instruction manual. Oh, and If anyone comes and asks what I was doing here, mention only that you're installing the iPod."

"Becoming a spy now, are we? You got it, James Bond, but it ain't gonna be cheap. I have a family to feed, you know."

"Money is not an issue, just make sure you hide them well when you install them, and use high quality stuff, I want my photos, video and sound clips to be sharp, and not look like they were taken with a potato. Here, this should cover one part of the fee." Bogdan said as he opened the backpack and pulled out an envelope filled with money. Roberto opened it, took a glimpse, then closed it and put it under the counter with a satisfied expression on his face.

"You got it, hot shot. Here, take this duel disk until yours is finished, it's the same as yours, so people won't know the difference. Oh, and I don't know what have you gotten yourself into and, frankly, I don't give a shit, but be careful, alright? You may be a cocky son of a bitch, but I care about you."

"Aww, so loving and tender. Didn't know you had a soft character, other than your dick." Bogdan threw the insult just before he exited the shop. Roberto grinned, flipping him off through the window pane.

"We have a show tonight. I'll send a driver to pick you up at eight. Be ready. I'll wait for you there. People are betting lots of money on you, so do what you do best and earn your share. It's all speculation right now, but if the numbers are correct, that share will be pretty big. For that amount of money I'd kill my own mother and let the neighbor's kids use her corpse to practice kissing with." Bruno informed Bogdan.

"Ok, boss." He responded sarcastically.

"Please, we're partners; I'm not your boss."

"Yeah, partners. Got it." Bogdan hung up. _Partners my ass. Fucking bastard. But no matter, as long as he's underestimating me because of my age, I have the upper hand. But what's taking Roberto so long. I know it's a delicate job, but I was planning on collecting some evidence tonight, taking a few photos, recording a few clips of the faces and conversations._ He picked up the phone and dialed the number of Roberto's shop.

"Roberto's dueling accessories, how may I help you?" Roberto's voice responded from the other side.

"Hi, Roberto, it's me. Is the disk ready? I have a gig tonight."

"Not yet, it'll take a few more days. Just use that other disk I gave you until it's done, unless it'll damage your overinflated celebrity ego."

"I'll damage you when I stick my foot up your ass."

"The only one sticking something somewhere will be me, and I'll leave it at that. Anyway, you're not planning to listen to music while dueling are you? So stop breaking my nuts, I'll call you when it's ready."

"Ok, ok, jerk. And you can forget about the tip."

"Motherf-" Bogdan laughed and hung up before Roberto could finish. _He's smart; he figured out that my phone's probably tapped. Well, fuck it, guess this chance will go to waste._

Bogdan was standing in the pit, his opponent being another middle aged man, completely bold. _Damn, he's so bald you can see what's on his mind._ Bogdan chuckled. Bruno couldn't discover much about him, apart that he was using some sort of a lockdown deck. It didn't matter. He was going to win, earn his cut of the cake and pay Roberto for the modifications. Plus, a lockdown deck means slower game play, so the audience will get its adrenaline rush. The judge announced the beginning of the duel by giving the first turn to his opponent.

"I activate my spell card Terraforming, which lets me search my deck for a field spell card, and I choose Secret Village of the Spellcasters and activate it right away. Now, if I have a Spellcaster on the field, and you don't, you can't activate spell cards." This one card was enough for Bogdan to understand his strategy. _A Spellcaster lock down deck. I might be in trouble now. My deck is fast because it's reliant on all the searching spell and trap cards in it. Half his strategy is already completed with just that one card, he locked down my spells. And I'm sure he has included Royal Decree in his deck, which will kill my traps as well. That would mean that two thirds of my deck will be a dead draw. This is going to be tough._ The man continued his turn. "I set a card face down and summon Breaker the Magical Warrior which gets a spell counter when he's summoned. This spell counter raises his attack points by 300, so now Breaker has 1900. That's it."

"My move." Bogdan drew. _Damn, there it is, Mystical Space Typhoon, I can blast away either his field spell card, or his facedown card, which probably is Royal Decree, but without a Spellcaster on my field, I can't activate it. Shit. I'll stall for now, maybe I can draw a Tricky or something. But Typhoon can still be useful for reducing the chance of Breaker hitting my other card_. "I set two cards and one monster facedown and end my turn."

"I activate Breaker's effect which lets me remove the spell counter he got when he was normal summoned and destroy one spell or trap card. And I destroy the left one. Your Mystical Space Typhoon goes to heck. Now I activate my spell card Spell Power Grasp which lets me place a spell counter on a card that can get a spell counter, and I place it on Breaker. Spell Power Grasp's second effect lets me search out another Spell Power Grasp from my deck but I cannot activate it in the same turn. Now I activate Breaker's effect, remove the new spell counter and destroy the other set card." Bogdan cringed. He didn't see that one coming. But all was not lost yet. He didn't want the trap destroyed, but the set monster was another story. The man announced his battle phase. "Now with Breaker I attack your set monster." Breaker shot a lightning bolt from his sword and blew up the card, which revealed a hedgehog with screws on his back instead of spikes before exploding.

"Thank you for putting Quillbolt Hedgehog exactly where he's supposed to be." Said Bogdan as he inserted the card in the graveyard slot of his duel disk.

"Now, in my Main Phase 2, I set a monster, a card and activate my first set card Royal Decree. Now, no other trap card can be activated while Royal Decree is on the field. I've shut down more than half your deck. I end my turn." He grinned as if he'd already won. Bruno was nervously tapping with his foot. Someone booed at Bogdan.

"I summon Psychic Commander, and now that I have a tuner on the field, Quillbolt Hedgehog is special summoned from the graveyard. Now I tune my level three Psychic Commander with my level two Quillbolt Hedgehog and synchro summon Magical Android! Android, attack Breaker!" Just as the technomancer raised its staff, ready to fire, Bogdan's opponent reacted by flipping a card.

"I activate my set quick-play spell card Enemy Controller and use its first effect, namely, I switch your monster in defense position, thus negating its attack." Magical Android raised a force field around her as it took her defensive stance.

"Damn it! I end my turn." A few more booed.

"Did you think you'll close my deck as well? Don't insult me, even though the two cards are a double edged sword, I've constructed the deck to never leave me in a situation equal to my opponent's, namely half-shut down. Being the national champion, you're not that strong."

"Stop flapping your yap and play your turn, will you? I don't have all night." Bogdan barked. Bruno wiped the sweat from his forehead. _Damn it, he's losing his cool. If he makes any fatal misplay and loses the duel, I'll lose a lot of money, and then he'll pay dearly._

"Losing our composure, are we? Good. I flip my set monster to reveal that it's Old Vindictive Magician, thus activating his flip effect. Now I can destroy one monster on the field, and Magical Android kicks the bucket. –Old Vindictive Magician shot Android with a thin black ray that pierced her force field and went straight through her, killing her instantly. -Now I activate my second Spell Power Grasp and put the spell counter on Breaker and search out the third one. Then I tribute both Breaker and Old Vindictive Magician to summon Endymion the Master Magician and equip the equip spell card Mage Power on him, which adds 500 attack points for every spell or trap card I control, and Royal Decree, Secret Village of the Spellcasters and Mage Power itself give it 1500 attack points for a grand total of 4200 attack points, and I attack with Endymion directly so now you have 3800 life points." Endymion twirled his staff and pointed it at Bogdan. As the runed ring around him started to glow he fired a tidal wave of energy that engulfed Bogdan, reducing his life points by half. The part of the audience that evidently placed bets on Bogdan was furious.

"You call yourself the national champion?"

"My grandma can duel circles around you!"

"You're pathetic!"

"Don't waste my time and surrender!"

"Boo!" Suddenly everybody started insulting Bogdan. Someone even threw a bottle which, had he not ducked, would have hit him in the head.

"Hey, are you even trying? If you lose the duel, I lose a lot of money, and you lose something much more valuable!" Bruno screamed from his seat.

"Shut the fuck up, you wanted a show right? Here's your show!"

"I didn't mean this! Not to let your opponent blast half your life points away with a single hit!"

"It's under control! Now that I've received a damage while I don't control any cards on the field, I can special summon Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness, and, since it was battle damage I can also summon an Emissary Token on the field with attack and defense points equal to the battle damage I received, in this case, 4200." Bogdan recovered his composure, focusing on his opponent again. Two warriors armed with giant swords appeared on the field. But Bogdan's opponent wasn't fazed.

"I activate Endymion's effect. I discard Spell Power Grasp to destroy your Token and end my turn."

"So much for your control!" Bruno yelled. Bogdan ignored him because he realized what the freshly drawn card is.

"I believe it's time to turn the tables, or at least reset the field. I discard my second Quillbolt Hedgehog to special summon The Tricky, and since he's a Spellcaster, I can now activate spell cards so I activate Emergency Teleport to special summon Krebons from my deck and tune it with The Tricky to synchro summon the level seven Black Rose Dragon! When Black Rose Dragon is synchro summoned I can nuke the field, destroying all cards. There goes your lockdown strategy." Just after the dragon appeared, it exploded, self-destructing itself. The shockwave produced destroyed every card on the field.

"What?!" His opponent watched in shock as his beautifully set-up strategy was blasted to high heaven after Black Rose Dragon disappeared from the field.

"Your turn." Bogdan sighed in relief. Now it's time for a comeback.

"I set a monster and end my turn." Bogdan's opponent didn't know what to do now. The problem with a one-trick pony deck is that once you stop the thing it's made to do, the deck is useless.

"I activate Pot of Avarice which lets me return five monsters back to my deck and draw two cards afterwards. So I choose Black Rose Dragon, Magical Android, Gorz, Psychic Commander and The Tricky back to my deck, and now I can draw the two cards. Good, I set a monster, a card and end my turn."

"I tribute my set monster to summon Chaos Command Magician, and with it attack your set monster. The man tried to mount a counterattack."

"My set monster is Morphing Jar, now we both discard any cards in our hand and draw five. I don't have any so I get five free cards. Carry on." Bogdan smiled, fanning himself with the cards. His opponent growled.

"I activate Allure of Darkness, which, after paying the cost of discarding a DARK monster from my hand out of game, lets me draw two cards."

"I activate my set trap card Dark Bribe, I negate your card's effect and you draw one card. So basically instead of two, you draw just one card. And after discarding that monster, it's one card less for you."

"I activate my field spell card Magical Citadel of Endymion and end my turn." An enormous tower materialized behind Bogdan's opponent. There were runes around it and stones levitated everywhere.

"I activate Reinforcements of the Army and search my deck for Junk Synchron, then discard Assault Beast to search out Assault Mode Activate from my deck, then I activate Assault Teleport which lets me return Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode from my hand back to my deck and draw two cards. Now I summon Junk Synchron and when he's normal summoned I can special summon a level two or lower monster from my graveyard, so I choose Krebons, and when there's a tuner on the field, I can special summon the second Quillbolt Hedgehog from my graveyard, then from my graveyard I remove Reinforcements of the Army out of game to special summon Spell Striker and I activate Mind Control to take Chaos Command Magician, but I can't use it as a tribute or attack with it, and if it's still on the field at the end of this turn, you get it back. Fortunately, using it as a synchro material is not the same as tributing it. So I tune my level two Krebons and your level six Chaos Command Magician and synchro summon Stardust Dragon, then I tune my level three Junk Synchron, level two Quillbolt Hedgehog and level three Spell Striker and synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend and attack you with both of them for a total of 5500 life point damage, 2500 form Stardust and 3000 from Red Dragon." The two dragons flew up, made a loop and as they descended upon Bogdan's opponent Red Dragon Archfiend breathed fire on him, and Stardust Dragon shot a burst of silver energy. The combination of the two attacks resulted in a powerful explosion. "Damn, looks like a Michael Bay movie. And last, but not least I set two cards. One of them is Assault Mode Activate; the other is just a decoy to put you off in case you get a chance to destroy a card. Your move." Bogdan smiled confidently. _Not so smart now, asshole._

"I activate my second copy of Allure of Darkness, I dump a DARK monster out of game and draw two cards."

"I activate my trap card Assault Mode Activate and tribute Stardust Dragon so I can special summon Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode from my deck. Go on." _I have you now._

"I summon Mei Kou, Master of Barriers and activate Magical Dimension."

"I negate Magical Dimension by tributing Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode. Nice try, but you won't be able to switch Mei Kou with a stronger Spellcaster and destroy one of my monsters. While Stardust Dragon can negate and destroy only cards whose effects destroy other cards by tributing itself, Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode can negate any card's effect and destroy it by tributing itself, and similarly like the ordinary Stardust Dragon, the /Assault Mode version also returns to the field at the end of the turn in which was tributed to negate something. And let's not forget that you don't get a spell counter on Magical Citadel of Endymion because the spell card was negated."

"That was my intention, Stardust Dragon, and his /Assault Mode version can negate and destroy cards only once, then remain in the graveyard for the rest of the turn. So I can lure you to tribute it for something less important and it will be out of my way for when I activate the more important stuff." His opponent revealed.

"What?!" Bogdan obviously underestimated him. He thought since he dismantled his opponent's strategy it was over.

"By removing from my graveyard out of game two monsters, one DARK and one LIGHT, like Old Vindictive Magician and Chaos Command Magician, I can special summon Chaos Sorcerer from my hand, and activate his effect to remove one monster on your side out of game, but he won't be able to attack this turn. So I remove Red Dragon Archfiend and Mei Kou is clear to attack directly for 1700 damage."

"No she isn't, I activate my set trap card Call of the Haunted to special summon Stardust Dragon."

"I activate Mei Kou's effect and tribute it to destroy a Continuous Spell or Trap card on the field, and you cannot chain Stardust Dragon's protection effect against it, because Mei Kou activates from the graveyard, therefore it can't be destroyed after negation, and I destroy Call of the Haunted, and with it goes Stardust Dragon as well, since that card was equipped to him. I end my turn."

"You're good. You're very good. But unfortunately for you, not good enough to defeat me. Time to end this. In the End Phase of your turn Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode special summons itself back to the field. Now it's my turn. I summon D.D. Warrior Lady and ram it against your Chaos Sorcerer, and even though it has lower attack points than him, and suiciding it will cost me 800 life points, similarly like him, she'll remove herself and drag him with her out of game, and now that your field is clear, I attack you with Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode and inflict 3000 damage on your 2500 life points, thus winning, if I may use your favorite word." Bogdan walked to the center of the pit. "Is there anybody else who thinks I'm not worthy of the title national champion? If there's someone, they can freely come down here and try to prove it to me and everyone here!" He looked around. Nobody dared speak. Mauro, the organizer of the duels narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "That's what I thought. Bitches."

"Oh, he's a showman all right." Bruno smiled.

"Hello?" Bogdan picked up the phone.

"It's Roberto, your duel disk is ready."

"About damn time, you lazy-ass."

"I'm not saying anything now, but you'll have to come to my shop to pick it up eventually. I'll kick your ass then." Roberto laughed.

"Sure you will, old man. Ok, I'll come later this afternoon." Bogdan hung up.


	6. Chapter 6

By midday the city burns like a hot coal. It is the type of heat to cause passions to rise with the mercury. The kind of heat that makes loyal husbands and wives to rashly pack their bags and abandon their spouses, their children without a word… That leads quiet, sensible men to lonely rooftops, where they look down on the city with murder in their minds. Those who can flee the city, heading for a more pleasant climate just across the nearest bridge. Those who can't try desperately to find a way to escape or endure or forget. As the day slips into evening, the heat increases. Tomorrow's forecast: More of the same. Bruno's office was located on the top floor in a skyscraper in Genoa's center, a zone called Brignole. He had the top three floors rented for all his businesses that functioned as fronts, a way to launder all the dirty money he made.

"I need a new deck." Bogdan burst in Bruno's office.

"What? Why? What's wrong with the one you have now?" Bruno was stunned by this seemingly ridiculous request. The national champion wants to dismantle the deck he used to win the national championship. To Bruno this was preposterous, and he made his position on this clear. "That deck won you the national championship, and made me a lot of money. I'm not killing my golden hen just because you want to experiment."

"You don't understand. Something was off during the last duel. And now I figured it out." Bogdan put his bag on the floor, sat on the leather sofa on the far end of Bruno's office, took a cigarette from the wooden box on the small table in front of the sofa that Bruno had prepared for his guests, and lit it.

"Figured what out?" Bruno raised an eyebrow. Bogdan took his laptop from the bag, turned it on and connected to the internet. Then he opened Youtube and wrote his name in the search field. The result showed a bunch of videos taken from the national championship semifinals and finals.

"See?" He turned the laptop towards Bruno.

"I watched these duels on TV live. That's how I found you. What's your point?"

"My point is I'm famous. Everybody and their mom know my deck inside out. Also, I think that the other mobsters that participate in the underground dueling are conspiring against us. They're afraid of us and are joining forces. The ones that lost probably provide the next duelist information about my deck, what cards I played, about my play style, everything. I think I saw both times people with cell phones recording me. Plus, the modifications I made are not that heavy, I swapped just a few cards to incorporate the /Assault Mode strategy in my deck. The Gemini guy didn't even know who I was, and I destroyed him in my second turn. But now they know. The last one that played the Spellcaster Lockdown deck knew exactly what to expect and built his deck to counter mine. I noticed that something was fishy back there. He was so confident from the very beginning, as if he'd already knew what was going to happen. I'm sure that they're all together right now churning up a new strategy to counter mine. And no deck is perfect. They might actually come up with a superior strategy and beat me. Actually I'm sure of it; it's just a matter of time. So I thought of this. We strike them first, before they get another chance. Plus, in the meantime there were two new sets of cards released with some nifty little gems in them."

"I see. You may just be right. So what you propose is that we start from scratch and come up with a completely new strategy, right? Are you insane?! What guarantee do I have that you will continue winning? No! You will continue dueling with this deck! It's perfectly capable of beating whatever strategy they might throw at you!"

"You don't get it, do you? Victorious warriors win first and then go to war. Defeated warriors go to war first, then seek to win. Sun-Tzu wrote this in his "Art of War" four hundred years before Jesus Christ gave hippies a dress code. He understood a soldier needs a clear path to victory before he lifts a weapon. And that's exactly what they're doing. I lost half my life points in one hit! I couldn't do jack shit half of the duel! What if the next one uses Skill Drain and Dimensional Fissure along with Secret Village of the Spellcasters and Royal Decree to lock my monster effects and graveyard? Or Royal Oppression to negate every special summon? No synchroing, no awesome genius 20 card combos, no one turn kills, no nothing! We have to evolve if we're to stay on top! Obscure that path again!"

"Ok, ok, I get your point. So, let's get to work. Where do you want to start? Archetype, monster type, attribute, a certain boss monster, synchro mechanics, fusion mechanics?"

"How about everything?" Bogdan grinned. Bruno was puzzled.

"Is that even possible with only 40 cards?"

"Of course. I already did all the brainwork, and I think I have the perfect recipe, down to the last card. Check this out. You're going to love it." Bogdan opened a Notepad document with a deck list. Bruno read it several times so that he can understand the basics of the deck.

"I already do. You got it. I'll get you this new deck. But don't fuck it up. This is your only chance with this. Lose, and you will be replaced. In more than one way. Give me the old deck. You'll have the new one in two days."

"You're not going to sell it, are you?"

"That deck is gold, it will go to your replacement if this idea of yours fails you and you fail me. You'll get it back if you win. Anyway, I thought you didn't want it anymore."

"I want a new one. That doesn't mean I'll simply toss the old one in the thrash. That's my very first deck." Bruno almost fainted when he heard that.

"You mean all this time I've been putting my financial future in the hands of some beginner and his _very first deck_?"

"Well, I wasn't made of money at the time; I had to use mostly cheap stuff. All the expensive cards in it are lucky pulls from booster packs and rip offs from stupid traders and little kids." Bogdan shrugged.

"Enough! Enough. I can't believe this. That's it! I have a friend that will come over to playtest it with you when the deck is completed."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I don't want to leave anything to chances. I booked you for a gig in a week, which will leave you with only five days to test it and fine tune it if necessary. You may need some other card, and I'll need time to get it for you."

"I understand. Oh, and one more thing. It just flashed me, so it may not be the best idea ever."

"Shoot."

"We could make several decks and swap them for every gig. That way nobody will ever know what I play and we can avoid any counter-decks. We have two for now, the old one and the prototype deck list. For starters I'll make two more. We'll offer the audience such duels, that they'll forget to breathe in all the excitement. Our duels will be the greatest show the dueling underworld will have to offer, we'll both swim in money as I plow through all the victims you find for me. Then, when the time is right, we'll overthrow that old senile idiot that holds the dueling arena and take over underground dueling. We will be in charge of booking, take big percentages off of everything and everyone. We can host entire tournaments, not just single duels, _entire_ tournaments with me as the champion waiting to beat the last challenger standing." Bogdan paced the office as he spoke passionately. He approached Bruno and put his arm around Bruno's shoulder while with the other he painted his imaginary vision of the future. "It will be glorious. Our golden age. With your organization and financial power, and my genius and dueling prowess, nobody will stand in our way. No, I'll rephrase that: nobody will DARE stand in our way! What say you?" Bruno's jaw was literary on the ground. All the sweet talk of money, power and glory made him drool. He was already picturing this fantasy in his greedy mind. Bogdan smiled faintly. His plan was working perfectly so far. The first objective was completed. Bruno's trust in him was ironclad. He will never dare lose him. Not as long as Bogdan was winning duels, of course. That was his second objective: keep winning, and he tried to complete that one at the same time by requesting a myriad of different decks. At least he told Bruno the truth about that. It was highly possible that rival mobsters and their duelist henchmen were ganging up on him and Bruno, and he couldn't allow them to gain the upper hand by coming up with a superior strategy and beat him in a duel. Not now. Not when everything was going so smoothly.

"Keep them deck lists coming!" Bruno's grin at that moment reminded Bogdan of Pot of Greed. _There goes the second objective_.

Bruno's friend was a mountain of a man, just one of his arms was bigger than Bogdan himself. _You don't need such big muscles for holding cards. He must have some other, more violent jobs than this_. Bogdan observed. He subtly pointed one of the cameras on the duel disk at him and snapped several shots. He already collected substantial evidence by breaking twice into Bruno's office and cracking the password of his computer, the name of his dog. There was a photo of it on Bruno's desk, just next to the PC monitor. Bruno wasn't very intelligent when it came to stuff like that. Or maybe he was simply overconfident.

"You're the national champion, aren't you?" Bruno's friend offered a handshake.

"The same." Bogdan took a few cautious steps back, but accepted.

"My name's Luca." He nearly tore Bogdan's arm off when he shook his hand.

"My pleasure, I guess." Bogdan was in agony.

"Bruno says you need a sparring partner to test some experimental deck of yours."

"He thinks I need one."

"I like your attitude. OK, let's go outside, it's too cramped in here." They went into the garden of Bruno's villa. Bruno's list of bribed cops, judges and politicians was long, so nobody pestered him about the origins of all his amassed wealth. Both duelists took positions and Bruno flipped a coin for them.

"Luca goes first." He announced the result of the coin toss.

"I summon Thunderking Rai-Oh and set three cards, that concludes my opening move." Luca raised his arm and pointed with his open palm the size of a shovel at Bogdan, indicating that it was his turn. Bogdan drew and saw the card, then placed it in his hand. _Rai-Oh and three set cards. Rai-Oh stops my searches, draws and special summons. Those three back rows will probably stop other moves. Please don't let it be another gay lockdown strategy. I hate those decks. Now, let's see what I can actually do_. He shuffled the cards in his hand a few times, put them in order, watched a bit, and then shuffled them again. And again. And again.

"Make your damn move already!" Bruno was impatient, but Luca calmed him.

"Let him do his thing. It's a useful little trick for when you play with a new deck. By shuffling your hand you change the order of the cards, and this can lead to the discovery of combinations you didn't see initially. Only when you are aware of all possible moves, do you choose the best move in a given situation and make it."

"I set a monster, activate my field spell card Geartown and set a card. Your turn." Bogdan put his card in the duel disk as a hologram of a few rusty metal buildings appeared behind him. Some of the gears pointing out of the walls of these buildings started to turn.

"I summon Gladiator Beast Equeste." _Gladiator Beasts. This won't be easy._ Bogdan thought. "Now, Thunderking Rai-Oh! Attack that set monster!"

"Not today! I activate my set card Dimensional Prison which lets me send the attacking monster out of the game before its attack hits my monster."

"You really did fall for that little bait I set up for you." Luca laughed. Bogdan raised an eyebrow.

"Bait? I removed it so I'll be able to special summon, draw additional cards and search for other parts of my strategy. I think the price wasn't that high."

"But my Gladiator Beast can attack safely now. Do you know what that means?"

"Yes. The Gladiator Beasts have the ability to return to the deck after a successful attack and then other Gladiator Beasts come out and activate various effects. It's called tagging out and tagging in, the term used in wrestling. The deck is very efficient at "toolboxing" whatever effect it needs in a given situation. Thunderking Rai-Oh is a very good tech in it because Gladiator Beasts don't need draw power so it's not a hindrance to them." Bogdan explained. Luca was testing him in every sense.

"You've done your homework. Anyway, Equeste, you try attacking it now!" The winged centaur charged.

"My set monster is Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and its flip effect lets me draw a card." As the set card was sliced, it flipped to reveal a broken locomotive, before it exploded.

"So that's why you took Rai-Oh out." Luca observed.

"Yup. I figured it's a fair use of resources if I'm allowed to play again."

"Now that the attack is successful, Gladiator Beast Equeste can tag out to let Gladiator Beast Retiari tag in, and when Retiari tags in, I can remove a monster from my opponent's graveyard, so Dekoichi is no more. I figured it's dangerous to let a DARK level four machine in the graveyard since there are many ways to make use of it."

"Not bad." Bogdan was impressed. Luca understood that the appearance of Dekoichi means a Black Salvo is to follow so he took precautions. Many decks use the same engine, starting from the infamous Salvo-DAD. That was where Bogdan took the idea from, too. The guy wasn't all brawn and no brains like Bogdan thought at first.

"Thanks. Your move."

"I summon Genex Neutron, set a card and end. Too dangerous to attack with those three set cards in your back row. Plus, I need Neutron's search effect. If I lose it before I end my turn I don't get to search. I end my turn and search a machine tuner from the deck and add it to my hand. I choose Genex Ally Birdman."

"You're no slouch yourself. You don't simply charge just because you have more attack points."

"Of course. I'm not stupid. I also improved the general philosophy of my deck building method, and my play style as well. While the old deck was pretty straight-forward, walk in-synchro summon-fuck shit up-walk out kind of deck where I relied on speed to overpower and outmaneuver my opponent, this one is a bit more conservative in nature. It can stall when needed, it's far better at resource gathering and management, but can still explode and dish out some serious firepower when the situation demands it."

"That's why it's time to get serious. I summon Elemental Hero Prisma and activate its effect. It lets me select a fusion monster in my extra deck and dump a fusion material monster from my deck to my graveyard, after which its name will become the name of the monster I dumped. I choose Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and dump Gladiator Beast Bestiari to the graveyard. Now that Prisma is Bestiari, let's have some fun. Contact fusion!" _Here it comes._ Bogdan recognized the move. "I fuse Prisma and Equeste! I can fuse them without any spell card like Polymerization, and they go back into the deck." A rainbow-colored vortex appeared, sucking in Prisma and Retiari.

"I know, I know, similarly to the contact fusion of the Neo-Spacian monsters."

"Exactly. And by fusing Bestiari with another Gladiator Beast monster I can special summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, and activate his effect, which lets me destroy up to two cards on the field, and I choose Genex Neutron and that set spell or trap card."

"I activate my trap card Starlight Road!" Bogdan reacted immediately, revealing his trap card. Gyzarus stopped in his tracks.

"What?!" Luca exclaimed.

"I knew this was coming as soon as I saw the first Gladiator Beast you summoned. Starlight Road can be activated as a response to a card that destroys two or more cards on my field, it can negate that effect and destroy the card. In addition, after it negated the destruction effect, I can now special summon Stardust Dragon without any synchro summoning!" Bogdan had the best possible response to Gyzarus. But something was off. Luca had a grin on his face instead of being shocked, frightened or simply pissed off, the usual reactions of a duelist when their power play is stopped.

"Great move there. But even that is not enough to stop me."

"What do you mean?" Then, just before the silhouette of Stardust Dragon materialized completely, it dissipated again.

"This! I activate my trap card Solemn Warning! Solemn Warning can negate a monster's summoning or an effect of a spell, trap or a monster that summons another monster for the price of 2000 life points. Since at the end of Starlight Road's effect you get to summon Stardust Dragon, it's a valid target for Solemn Warning's effect, similarly to the rulings of Royal Oppression. I now have 6000 life points and Gyzarus' effect proceeds as planned." Now it was Bogdan that was shocked. Luca managed to stop even the almighty Starlight Road. Always one step ahead. Luca's dueling skills were at a level higher than all previous opponents he encountered. But he wasn't enjoying the duel. The mere presence of Bruno ruined every possibility of that happening.

"But since Starlight Road disappeared after being selected as a target, you now destroy only Genex Neutron." Bogdan said, regaining his composure.

"True, but it will do. Now I attack you directly. You have 5600 life points now." Gyzarus punched Bogdan, then the vortex appeared again and sucked Gyzarus in. Two other Gladiator Beasts hopped out. "After successfully attacking, Gyzarus goes back to the extra deck and two other Gladiator Beasts tag in. I select Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Darius. Laquari gains 300 attack and goes to 2100 attack, and Darius can now special summon a Gladiator Beast from the graveyard, and I select Bestiari."

"Oh, hell no!" Bogdan understood what was about to happen.

"Time for another contact fusion! I fuse Laquari and the other two Gladiator Beasts to summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, and, of course, all three Gladiator Beasts used for the contact fusion go back to the deck." The three monsters disappeared into a vortex and, moments later, a large, fully armored humanoid lion with a big axe and a golden shield appeared from it. "I set a card and end my turn." Bogdan couldn't contain his surprise. Not only did Luca destroy his field presence, easily bypassing a powerful trap like Starlight Road, and attacked him directly, he swapped an already powerful fusion monster with an even more powerful fusion monster with a built-in protection effect. The lion-headed gladiator twirled his halberd, staring down at Bogdan defiantly. But Bogdan was far from being defeated. He looked at his hand, and saw a possible solution.

"Nice combo. Two contact fusions in a turn is pretty impressive. I special summon Cyber Dragon because I control no monsters and you do, then normal summon Breaker the Magical Warrior. Breaker gets a spell counter when summoned which gives it an attack boost of 300 for a total of 1900 attack points, and I can spend it to destroy that spell or trap card to the left. Now I bounce Cyber Dragon back to my hand to special summon Genex Ally Birdman. Time for a comeback. I tune the levels of Genex Ally Birdman and Breaker to synchro summon Arcanite Magician." A spellcaster in white armor appeared on the field. "When Arcanite Magician is synchro summoned successfully to the field, it, similarly to Breaker, gets two spell counters which give it 1000 attack points, bringing it up to 2400. But, unlike Breaker, Arcanite Magician gets to destroy any two cards on your side of the field, not just spells or traps."

"You convinced me, it is a dangerous card. I activate Solemn Judgment and negate the summoning of this monster by paying half of my life points. Now I have 3000."

"Oh for the love of Led Zeppelin!" Luca had an answer to everything and that pissed Bogdan off to no end.

"Please continue your turn."

"Birdman banishes himself out of game after being special summoned with his effect. I special summon Cyber Dragon again since I have no monsters on my field and end my turn."

"I set a card and attack Cyber Dragon with Heraklinos. You have 4700 life points. You misplayed back there. You should've sent Breaker back to your hand and synchro for a level eight monster."

"That wouldn't have changed anything. I know I could've gone for Scrap Dragon so I can destroy Geartown and Heraklinos or a backrow card, but you would've negated it all the same. At least this way I reduced the damage to my life points by 2100."

"And you would've had Breaker in your hand to summon again and pop another back row card."

"Yes, but before that, my field would've been empty and you would've attacked directly. That mindset about the life points will lose you the game, dude. You're overspending them."

"There is a vital difference between testing ideas and accepting differences as player preference. The former is done in the pursuit of perfection, and the latter is done in its blatant rejection. Know this. You need only one life point to win. Life points are more than just a win condition. They are a resource to be used. And if you're so protective of your life points why didn't you summon Cyber Dragon in defense mode?"

"Because one should summon monsters in defense mode only when absolutely necessary when facing Gladiator Beasts, since they can use that to their advantage to tag out and in and activate their effects. How am I supposed to know you won't summon any other monsters on your turn and first get all their effects, then attack over his measly 1600 defense points and directly attacking me for at least 3000 life point damage? This way the damage is only 900, and it prevents you from attacking it with weaker Gladiator Beasts. True, you can just as easily attack me directly with the weaker monsters and still get their effects off, but I may have bought myself an extra turn to retaliate. Plus, Heraklinos is a dead end fusion monster, so it won't de-fuse like Gyzarus, meaning you can't pull off shit like that again." Bogdan explained. Bruno, who watched silently from the side, curved his mouth, murmuring "not bad".

"Hmph, we'll see at the end whose logic is flawed." Luca shrugged.

"Well if should'ves and buts were beer and nuts, we'd have one hell of a party right now. You done anytime soon with your turn?"

"Yes, your move."

"I warned you. Good chess players think five moves ahead. I activate my spell card Smashing Ground to destroy Heraclinos!"

"I negate it with Heraclinos' effect by discarding a card."

"And now you have no cards in your hand so you can't negate other spells and traps I activate. That means it's the perfect moment for me to activate Miracle Synchro Fusion!"

"Impossible!" Luca bellowed.

"More than possible, actually. I select Breaker the Magical Warrior and Arcanite Magician in my graveyard and fuse them together to special summon Supreme Arcanite Magician! That's why I didn't take Breaker back, so I can set up for this boss." Another spellcaster, this time in oversized purple armor appeared on the field and swung his staff as Bogdan gave the command to activate one of its effects. "As you may have already guessed, Supreme Arcanite Magician also gets two spell counters that give it 1000 attack points, bringing it to 3400 attack. The difference here is that Supreme Arcanite Magician can use only one per turn, not all of them like Arcanite Magician, but not just for destruction. If I want to, I can also spend it to draw a card, and that's what I'll do now."

"Not if I have something to say about it. I activate Book of Moon and flip it in facedown defense position. Now it loses its counters because its effect is reset when it goes facedown. Great chess players think only one move ahead, but it's always the best one."

"Oh for fuck's sake! I hate Gladiator Beasts and all of their control cards! Your move!" Bogdan lost it as one of his strongest and most difficult to summon monsters in his deck was so easily countered. Luca managed to negate everything until now, and Bogdan was more pissed off than ever. Bruno scowled disapprovingly from the sideline.

"I summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo. Heraclinos, attack his set monster!" Heraclinos raised his axe and slashed Supreme Arcanite Magician in two as he appeared from under the card. _All the cards I spent to summon this monster. All for nothing._ Bogdan covered his eyes with his hand.

"Epic facepalm right there." Luca laughed.

"Shut up!"

"Now Murmillo can attack you directly. You lose 800 life points which brings you down to 3900. Murmillo tags out, Darius tags in and activates his effect to special summon a Gladiator Beast from the graveyard. I select Samnite and then I contact fusion them to special summon Gladiator Beast Essedarii. That concludes my turn."

"I summon Machina Gearframe, and as soon as it's summoned, I can search my deck for another Machina monster, and I take Machina Fortress. Machina Fortress can be special summoned from the hand or graveyard by discarding machines with a total level of eight or more, and I discard Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon to summon it from my hand. When Machina Fortress is destroyed in battle it can destroy a card on the field, and since it has the same attack points as Essedarii, I'll kill two files with one blow. Machina Fortress, attack Gladiator Beast Essedarii and take them both down!"

"I activate Forbidden Lance and lower Machina Fortress' attack points by 800. By doing this I can save at least one of my monsters."

"Damn it you're annoying!" Bogdan raged.

"You have 3100 life points. Now choose which monster you want to destroy."

"Heraklinos of course. Your move." As Machina fortress was about to blow up from the damage inflicted upon it during the attack, it managed to fire one last missile aimed at Heraklinos and blew him away, then it exploded as well.

"I activate Gladiator Proving Ground which lets me search my deck for a Gladiator Beast and add it to my hand. I choose Gladiator Beast Laquari, summon it, then Essedarii attacks your Gearframe and Laquari attacks you directly. And as you already know by now, Laquari tags out and Darius tags in."

"You have nothing to special summon, so why Darius?"

"Oh but I do. Darius isn't restricted to only non-fusion Gladiator Beasts. I select and special summon Gladiator Beast Heraclinos. Missed him?"

"Fucking great. Just as I finally took it down, you had to go there and resurrect it right away."

"Unfortunately, Heraclinos is just a vanilla beater now. Darius negates the effects of the monster it summons. You have only 600 life points now. I end my turn. You have only 600 life points left. Make them count."

"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy my own Geartown to special summon another Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon from my deck."

"You could've summoned the one in your graveyard so that you can keep this one as discard fodder for Fortress when you draw it."

"I have other monsters to discard for Fortress. What I needed was to thin the deck a bit and reshuffle it. Maybe that way I'll have better luck at my next draw. Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon attacks Darius. And when Darius is removed from the field in any way the monster it special summoned goes back to the deck, in this case the extra deck. You have 1700 life points. I end my turn."

"Finally you managed to do some damage to me. Thought I'd have to take out all my life points myself." Luca teased him.

"Shut up and play your damn turn."

"I activate my second Forbidden Lance and take away 800 attack points from Gadjiltron. Now Essedarii, destroy it! You have 300 life points. I end my turn." Luca smiled maliciously, they both knew that Bogdan's chances for turning the tables were slim. Being reduced to topdecking while his opponent had two behemoths on the field was the worst possible situation to be in. Bogdan touched the top card of his deck, inhaled deeply and drew it with his eyes closed. _I'm finished now. Bruno will kill me for making him spend a fortune to build a deck that can't win._ He opened his eyes and took a look at the card he drew. Then he burst into laughter. Bruno was confused. He knew what that meant. He'd seen it so many times. It meant that Bogdan is about to play the winning move. But, to him it looked hopeless. What possible card could he had drawn that could at least even the odds a bit, let alone win the duel. To Luca it looked like Bogdan had lost it.

"I activate Overload Fusion!"

"It can't be!" Luka realized it instantly.

"But it is! I remove from my graveyard monsters that are listed as fusion materials on a DARK machine fusion monster and special summon it. That summoning is treated as a regular fusion summoning. I remove Cyber Dragon, Genex Neutron, Machina Gearframe, Machina Fortress and the two Gadjiltrons. Now come forth, Chimeratech Overdragon!" Both Bruno and Luca were in awe as the enormous steel dragon appeared on the field.

"Now it's time to finish this. Chimeratech Overdragon's attack is equal to the number of machines used to summon it times 800, so six times 800 is 4800 attack points, far more than enough to destroy both Essedarii and your 1700 life points. Five moves ahead, remember? Chimeratech, attack Essedarii and finish this duel!" The dragon's six heads blew an energy beam one after another, three destroyed Essedarii, the other three hit Luca as his life points dropped to zero, causing a massive hologram explosion.

"Great duel, kid. You truly deserve the title of national champion." Luca offered a handshake. Bogdan hesitated for a second, then accepted it. He regretted it immediately as Luca tried to rip his arm off his shoulder again.

"Thank you for the assistance, Luca." Bruno joined them.

"Sure thing, Boss. If you need me again, give me a call."

"I will, Luca. We'll have a few more decks prepared for playtesting in a short time, and I'll need your services again."

"Of course, boss. I understand now why you replaced me with him."

"Say what?" This information took Bogdan by surprise.

"Didn't you know? I was Mr. Bruno's pit duelist, but he gave me another job when he hired you." _Interesting. Maybe I can use this guy in my plan. He looks loyal at first sight, but he may hold a grudge against Bruno. When I get the chance, I'll have to ask him a few questions, but I have to be careful not to reveal myself to him before he does. If he's truly loyal and I spill everything, he'll tell Bruno and I'm fucked,_ Bogdan thought.

"That's one fine deck you have there." Luca tapped Bogdan's shoulder friendly. He almost dislocated it.

"Thanks, a friend inspired me to build it."

"Must be a friend as good as that deck. Well, I'll be going now. Let me know when you need me again."

"Care to explain how could he counter each and every move you played? It almost cost you the god damn duel!" Bruno was furious.

"The fuck's your problem?! It was a playtest duel! That's why playtesting exists! You get to see how the deck works and learn it inside-out by experiencing it first-hand!"

"Maybe this is not the right deck for you. It's powerful and explosive, but it is way too easily countered."

"Have you ever dueled against Gladiator Beast decks? Have you ever even dueled? Like, at all?" Bruno didn't respond. "Thought so. Well for your information not every duel is easy. Not every duelist is a rookie. There are many good duelists with good decks. That is why we're building different decks. So that we can stay on top."

"You lucked out! You cannot lecture me about good duelists and good decks after sacking the victory like that!"

"No I did not. I knew that only one card would be enough to defeat him after all the life points he paid as cost. I just used that advantage he gave me against him. What would've happened if he played another Solemn Warning and Seven Tools of the Bandit? He'd beat himself. Do you see it now?" Then it hit Bogdan. Could it really be true?

"If you say so. But remember what I told you. One loss and you're history."


	7. Chapter 7

Bogdan studied the new deck for the remainder of the week prior to the next duel, constantly swapping cards in and out of it until he reached what he thought was the perfect formula. He didn't want to admit it but the duel with Luca really helped him understand the deck, see its strengths and weaknesses, and improve upon it. Bruno had to pull a lot of strings and ask people to return the favors they owed him in order to acquire some difficult to find and expensive cards in such a short time, and was pretty angry about it.

"I sincerely hope, for your sake, that you win tonight's gig, because I've spent a fortune on these two cards." He said as he passed the cards to Bogdan.

"Relax, I've got this sewn-up tighter than a camel's butt in a sandstorm." Bogdan yelled with a thumbs-up from behind the computer screen.

"Watch your pie hole, I'm not in the mood. Had to ask some very powerful people to return me the favor they owed me for this stuff. I was saving them for important things." He turned to leave.

"And this isn't important? When I win, I'll make 6 times more money than the amount you spent on these cards."

"You better, otherwise I'll-" He slammed the door before finishing the sentence.

"We'll see about that." Bogdan wrote the last lines of the email he was composing: _Gtg now, got a gig tomorrow, hopefully I'll get some more material there. Make sure to burn these attachments on a DVD and give them to your uncle in DIGOS. Xoxo. B._ He then clicked on the _Send_ button and forwarded the email to Ilena. The little envelope flew off the screen.

"Wake up, you have a gig in two hours. I'm already down in front of your apartment." Bruno's voice, rendered slightly artificial through the cell phone speaker, was like nails to a chalkboard to Bogdan.

"Dude, it's seven a.m. Newton's first law states that a body in rest wants to stay at rest. Now fuck off." He hanged up. The phone rang again almost instantly.

"Do that again and I'll personally give you a Columbian necktie. I want to see you in my car in fifteen minutes." Now Bruno hung up.

"Nice scenery. Very dramatic. I should've put on a leather overcoat to look cooler in the wind." Bogdan said after they arrived at the place of the duel, which was a helipad on the roof of a skyscraper. The mobster organizing these duels, Mauro, was also there, along with the usual crowd from before.

"It's the personal arena of your next opponent. The guy himself has no idea whatsoever how much money he has." Bruno said.

"Which means he has rare, expensive cards in his deck." Bogdan noted.

"Now I've told you, screw this up and I'll personally throw you off this roof." Bruno growled at him. Bogdan just gave him a cold, emotionless stare.

"Sorry for not being scared. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a duel to win." He said as the elevator doors on the other side of the roof opened and his opponent came out.

"See? He has an overcoat, why can't I? Well, you've unlocked the dramatic stage entry achievement."

"Shut up and just start the damn duel already! The next words out of your mouth better be _I won, Mister Bruno, sir_ or else I will take a shit on you so giant you will forget there was ever such a thing as the sun!" Bruno barked, pushing him violently.

"Ok, ok, jeez! What crawled up your ass?" Some of the spectators laughed. That made Bruno angrier, but he decided not to say anything. The judge approached them and announced the coin toss. Bogdan turned on the hidden camera on the duel disk and made a slow circle in order to film everybody present. Then he turned to face his opponent. _Ilena should like a first-person duel recording,_ he thought.

"Gentlemen, the bets are now closed, let the duel begin. First turn goes to the champion. Second turn for the challenger."

"Why am I always the challenger? Champion sounds so cooler." Bogdan complained. His opponent, a young man in his mid-twenties, drew six cards, initiating the duel.

"I set a monster and a card and end my turn."

"Great, a T-set. It's never easy. I set a monster and two cards and end my turn. Your move, Richie Rich."

"I tribute my set Treeborn Frog to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch, and upon summoning, his effect activates, allowing me to destroy up to two spell or trap cards, so kiss your back row goodbye. I attack your set monster."

"Dekoichi's flip effect activates allowing me to draw a card. Goodbye, pain train."

"I set another card. Your turn."

 _A monarch deck with Treeborn Frog. Pretty straightforward, no biggy. I'll eat him for dessert._ "I summon Machina Gearframe, which when summoned will search out Machina Fortress and add it to my hand. Now I discard two Machina Fortresses to special summon one of them. Machina Fortress can be special summoned by discarding machines with a total level of eight or more. The nice thing is, Machina Fortress itself can be used as a cost for its own special summoning, as it by itself is level seven and its own effect targets it after the cost is paid." An orange tank appeared beside Bogdan and pointed its cannon towards his opponent, ready to fire.

"Before Fortress is special summoned, I discard Maxx C from my hand. Its effect is to let me draw a card each time you special summon during the turn this card is discarded. Now the special summoning of Fortress will net me a card."

"I'll give you one more card, mate. I discard Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, which is level eight in order to special summon the second Machina Fortress." One more tank appeared on Bogdan's other side. "I attack Mobius with one Fortress." Machina Fortress fired its salvo towards the monarch, but it stopped mid-air, as if frozen in time, as Bogdan's opponent revealed his set card.

"I activate my set spell Enemy Controller and tribute Mobius so I can take control of one of your Machina Fortresses for the duration of this turn." Mobius disappeared, and the salvo flew off the rooftop, disappearing as it reached the limit of Google Glasses' solid vision.

"Damn. I end my turn." Bogdan growled.

"In your end phase I activate my set card Book of Moon to flip one Machina Fortress face down. Its 1600 defense should be less of a threat."

"God you're annoying. You were supposed to let me take the advantage by attacking you directly. Didn't you read the script?"

"Lame humor won't win you the game, bro. Since I don't have any spells or traps on the field, I can special summon Treeborn Frog from the graveyard. Now I summon Skreech and activate its effect. It lets me send two WATER monsters from my deck to my graveyard, so I dump another Treeborn Frog and a Swap Frog. Now I discard a WATER monster from my hand to special summon Swap Frog from my hand. This Fishborg Blaster will do. And now I activate the effect of Swap Frog to send a level two or lower Aqua type monster from my deck to my graveyard, and I send the third Swap Frog." Bogdan's opponent fiddled with the cards, which confused Bogdan a bit, since he couldn't guess the deck type. _What the hell is he doing anyway? Monarchs, Frogs, and I saw Fishborg Blaster, so he has tuners as well. Is it a Frognarch deck? Is it Formula Monarch? Is it both? Ok, don't panic, you have a strong field presence, there is no reason to worry_ , he thought. His opponent was still juggling with the cards. "Now I activate Salvage to return from the graveyard to my hand two WATER monsters with 1500 attack or less, and I choose Treeborn Frog and Swap Frog. Then I discard Treeborn Frog to special summon Fishborg Blaster from my graveyard. Fishborg Blaster can be special summoned only by discarding a card when I control a level three or lower WATER monster, so Treeborn and Swap Frog both fulfill that requirement." _Here it comes!_ Bogdan was tense. "Now I tune Fishbrog Blaster, Skreech and Swap Frog to synchro summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

"Galloping Godzillas! I'm in trouble now! Big trouble!" Bogdan gulped as he looked at the giant dragon that flapped its wings and roared. _It has the same attack as my Fortresses, 2500, but its effect allows him to discard up to two cards to destroy the same amount of cards on my field. Wait a minute, he only has one card. He'll destroy the face up one, then attack the facedown one, and then I'll destroy it with Fortress' effect. Like I said before, no biggy._

"I activate my Pot of Avarice, it lets me send five cards from my graveyard back to my deck and draw two after shuffling it. I return Swap Frog, Skreech, Fishborg Blaster, Mobius and Maxx C. Now I discard both cards I just drew, which are Mobius and Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness, as cost for Gungnir's effect. He can destroy the cards on the field equal to the number of cards I discard, but I can discard up to two cards. So I choose your two Fortresses and blow them away." The great beast flew upwards and shot both machines with rays of energy, incinerating them instantly.

"Fortress' effect activates, I'm supposed to make you discard a card since Fortress was targeted with a destruction effect, but you have no cards in your hand, so carry on." _That wasn't supposed to happen._

"Gungnir, attack Machina Gearframe!" Gungnir, while still in the air, charged an energy beam in its mouth and shot it at Gearframe, which exploded.

"Maybe I should've used that union effect to attach Gearframe on Fortress." Bogdan mumbled.

"You have 7300 life points. I end my turn."

"I set a monster and end my turn."

"Great deck by the way, Bogdan! Very impressive!" Bruno yelled sarcastically from the sideline. Bogdan resisted the urge to show him the finger.

"Thank you, I'm keeping the best for last, so buckle up your seat belts, motherfuckers, because in a few short turns I'm going to teach you something I just learned a few days ago, so sit down, shut up and enjoy the experience of my four-am red bull-induced self-hatred-fueled deck-building extravaganza." He responded in equal sarcasm.

"I think I've seen enough." Bruno wasn't amused.

"My turn, I discard the Treeborn Frog I just drew to destroy that set monster with Gungnir's effect and attack you directly. You have 4800 life points."

"That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy! I summon Black Salvo and with its effect I special summon a level 4 DARK Machine monster, in this case Dekoichi, the Battlechanted Locomotive, and tune them to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon."

"Aw hell no! Not my Gungnir!" Bogdan's opponent cried.

"Sorry. I activate Black Rose Dragon's effect to nuke the field and destroy all cards, including itself. This lets me special summon Meklord Emperor Skiel." Five parts appeared on the field, and interconnected to form a gigantic, insect-looking machine.

"Meklord Emperor Skiel!? From the Meklord Emperor Series!? The synchro haters?! Where in God's name did you find it? Only three Meklord Emperor cards exist in the world! Never would've thought I'd have to face one of them one day."

"Tremble, mortal, and despair, for your end is nigh! But seriously, I managed to track down only the weakest of the three Meklord Emperors. There are only rumors about the whereabouts of Wisel, and Granel is believed to be lost."

"So that's why I had to pay top dough for it." Bruno mumbled under his nose.

"Skiel can only be summoned when a monster I controlled is destroyed by a card's effect. Of course after summoning it this way, it can be revived just like any monster because it was properly summoned the first time."

"But why didn't you summon it when I destroyed your monsters with Gungnir's effect?"

"Because I just drew it, dumbass. Now shut up. I attack you directly with Meklord Emperor Skiel." Skiel shot several energy bursts and the area where Bogdan's opponent stood exploded. "You have 5800 life points. Your move."

"I special summon Treeborn Frog and dump Moray of Greed, which at this point is a dead draw, to special summon Fishborg Blaster, and now I tune them both to synchro summon the level two Formula Synchron, which in turn lets me draw a card."

"You're just prolonging the inevitable." Bogdan said.

"Not until the last card is played. Lady Luck is on my side today. I activate my second Pot of Avarice and after returning two Swap Frogs, Treeborn Frog, Mobius and Fishborg Blaster I can draw two cards." Bogdan's opponent looked at the cards then burst into laughter. Bogdan braced himself, while Bruno started panicking. He knew all too well what happens after that. Bogdan had always done it just before his winning move. "You think you're the only one with unique legendary cards in your deck?" His opponent asked Bogdan with a creepy smile on his face. Bogdan narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Watch! I activate Monster Reborn to special summon Gungnir from my Graveyard, then normal summon Fishborg Blaster and tune them to synchro summon Stardust Dragon!" That's when it hit Bogdan.

"As the shepherd said, get the flock out!" Now Bogdan was scared too.

"Well, let's bring this to an end, shall we? I tune Formula Synchron to Stardust Dragon in order to Accel Synchro the fabled Shooting Star Dragon!" Formula Synchron dissolved into two circles of intense light, while Stardust Dragon flew up, made a circle in midair and flew into the light at full speed. Moments later from the other end a ray of white light shot out like a comet, made a loop and landed beside Bogdan's opponent and toned the glow down until visible. What Bogdan saw was a giant white dragon as big as his Skiel. Everybody else that watched the duel had their jaws on the ground. "Now let's show our adoring public what it can do. I activate Shooting Star Dragon's first effect, it lets me check the top five cards, and for every tuner in them he gets an extra attack."

"The downside to that effect is that if you don't find any tuners among the five cards, you cannot attack at all, obviously. Number of tuners equals number of attacks, which means no tuners, no attacks. And if you don't destroy Skiel now, next turn I'll steal Shooting Star Dragon from you." Bogdan pointed out.

"I'll take that risk." Bogdan's opponent said as he drew five cards. The judge approached him to control the cards.

"One tuner! Effect Veiler!" The judge announced, while Bogdan's opponent revealed the cards. Bogdan closed his eyes in pain. Shooting Star Dragon rammed itself into Skiel, destroying it.

"You lose 1100 life points from the battle with Skiel which puts you at 3700. Prepare to lose."

"Not until the last card is played, right? My turn. I set a monster and end."

"I special summon Treeborn Frog, then tribute it to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch. Since there are no spells or traps on the field, nothing happens. Mobius attacks that set monster."

"It's Dekoichi. I draw a card due to its flip effect."

"But your field is empty now. Shooting Star Dragon, attack him directly!"

"Crap!" Bogdan braced himself by shielding his face with his arms. At that moment Shooting Star Dragon blew a surge of energy, creating a tremendous explosion where he stood.

"You have only 400 life points now. Next turn it's over." His opponent cackled maniacly.

"Get your ass up and do something! You're about to lose the duel, you moron!" Bruno popped a blood vessel.

"I don't think so." Said Bogdan as he looked at the card he drew. "Time to summon the monster I've been holding since the beginning of the duel. It's become all sweaty from being in my hand for so long. But first, I activate my field spell card Geartown. Now I special summon this special monster by removing from my extra deck Cyber End Dragon. Come forth, Malefic Cyber End Dragon!" An enormous three-headed robotic hydra appeared on the field, bearing resemblance to the original Cyber End Dragon, but it had black-and-white masks on its three faces, making it look even more vicious than the original.

"Where do you find these cards, man? First Meklord series, now Malefic Series!"

"You jelly? Malefic Cyber End Dragon is an extremely easy to summon monster with an extremely high attack of 4000. All it takes is a field spell card like the Geartown I activated at the beginning of the duel to be active and as soon as it's in your hand you can summon it by removing the original from the extra deck. Easy as pie. Several Malefic versions of the originals exist, including a field spell designed to remove the negative effects of them. But enough lessons. I attack Mobius the Frost Monarch!" The three heads charged energy orbs in their mouths as the attack was declared.

"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's second effect: I can remove it from play to negate one monster's attack!

"No you don't! I activate my quick-play spell card Forbidden Chalice to negate Shooting Star Dragon's effects for the remainder of the turn at the cost of it gaining 400 attack until the end phase, and the attack is uninterrupted." Malefic Cyber End Dragon shot the energy orbs, which created another explosion where Mobius stood. "You have 5000 life points. I end my turn."

"I activate my spell card Forbidden Lance and select your Malefic Cyber End Dragon as a target. It loses 800 life points, but is unaffected by spell and trap cards for the remainder of the turn. This way its attack goes from 4000 to 3200, below Shooting Star Dragon's 3300."

"Creative, giving spell and trap immunity to my monster just to be able to defeat it in battle."

"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Now I activate Shooting Star Dragon's first effect again." Bogdan's opponent drew five cards.

"One tuner! Effect Veiler again!" The judge confirmed.

"Damn, looks like you survive another turn."

"I'm surprised you even get to attack." Bogdan responded.

"Why is that?"

"How many tuners do you have? I'm guessing two or three Effect Veilers and two or three Fishborg Blasters, one of which is in the graveyard. With three, maybe four tuners in less than thirty cards, you're lucky to be able to get that effect off. That's why you didn't use the effect when you attacked me directly. You didn't want to risk losing Shooting Star Dragon's one guaranteed attack, so you opted for prolonging the duel instead of the possibility of not inflicting any damage." His opponent was taken aback. Looks like Bogdan guessed it right. Bruno sighed in relief, knowing Bogdan's head is back in the game.

"A-anyway, Shooting Star Dragon destroys Malefic Cyber End Dragon and sends it to where Skiel is! You lose 100 life points which puts you at 300! Hahahaha! So much for your rare cards. Shooting Star Dragon destroyed them all! What are you going to do about it now? Huh? What?" Bogdan's opponent went into hysteria. Bogdan, on the other hand, had drawn his card in the meantime and was now waiting for his opponent to finish his fit with a mysterious smirk on his face. Bruno noticed that and at first lightened up, but then he looked at the cards in play. _How does he intend to get himself out of this? He has only the card he just drew in hand and Geartown in play. Even if he destroys Geartown and gets Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon on the field, it's not enough, since Shooting Star has more attack. Maybe he can destroy it or remove it somehow. But it wouldn't matter, because next turn his opponent can beat him with whatever monster he draws. He has no Cyber Dragons or spellcaster synchros in the grave so that rules out Overload Fusion and Miracle Synchro Fusion. What if he defends with a set monster? Ah, it's still pointless, next turn his opponent will beat him either by drawing another monster and attacking with both, or with Shooting Star Dragon's effect to attack more than once, plus even if neither happens and he survives, that's no laughing matter, so what's with that smile? Damn, however I look at this, it's hopeless._

"Yo, whatever, psycho. Can I make my winning move now?" That killed his opponent's mad laughter on the spot. Everybody was shocked and waiting for the development of the duel.

"What? With that one card in hand? Hahahaha! Please, be my guest! Let's see what you can do!" The tension was too much for Bogdan's opponent. Bogdan slowly revealed the card in his hand, then inserted it in a spell/trap slot of his duel disk.

"I activate the timeless classic Monster Reborn to summon Meklord Emperor Skiel. After being properly summoned, Skiel can be revived just like any other monster. You know why the three Meklord Emperors are called synchro haters, right?" His opponent knew, but couldn't say it. The realization that this duel is about to end with his loss, and that all he's about to lose a lot of money and be plunged into debts got the better of him. Skiel materialized back on the field beside Bogdan, eyeing Shooting Star Dragon with ill intent. "Well, I'll show the audience then. I activate Skiel's effect, which lets me take an opponent's synchro monster and equip it to Skiel. Then Skiel will add the original attack of that synchro monster to its base 2200 attack, and, in this case, will become a 5500 attack behemoth, more than capable of wiping your 5000 life points with a single attack." Skiel launched several whips which caught Shooting Star Dragon by its arms, legs and neck, pulled it towards itself and, ultimately, absorbed it. Then it shot the energy bursts again, which this time were a lot bigger, and when they hit Bogdan's opponent a groundbreaking explosion took place. Bogdan turned to the audience with his arms raised, taunting with his palms. "Who's the bitches now, bitches!"

"Again with the sacky wins!" Back at the office Bruno scolded him.

"You still don't get my play style. Son, I am disappoint. It's called a set-up. Every card can be used and reused. Monsters can be revived, tuned for a synchro after using their effects, tributed, fused for more powerful monsters, removed from play to pay costs, et cetera. Sooner or later the cards that can do the right thing in the right situation will be drawn. That's how powerful decks are built. The old deck worked like that, and so does the new one. It is, of course, luck to a degree. Luck is topdecking into Monster Reborn. Bad luck is when there's nothing that can save you in either player's graveyard available. Good luck is when you have a previously summoned and destroyed Skiel so that you can absorb Shooting Star Dragon after you resurrect it. Do you see where I'm getting at?"

"I understand now. Good job, I guess. One of these days you'll give me a heart attack."

"Well for once you're happy I won. Anyway, I had fun today too. For the first time since I started doing the gigs. It's not every day that you take down a god." Bogdan admitted.

"Strong monster, that Shooting Star Dragon."

"Strong is an underestimation. It's legendary. There are just a few more that are as strong as it. But I've set my sights on the other Meklords, since I have the weakest of the three. Anyway, I'm going home now, I'm exhausted."

"Fantastic! We need to get them. Whatever you can find, present it to me, and we'll plan our next step from there. No price is too high. We'll get that money back in no time after that." Bruno laughed.

"You got it. See you."

"It wasn't my fault!" The young man that just lost to Bogdan screamed. He was dangling upside-down, his legs tied up with a chain that strung him up like a pig in a butcher's shop. Below him a grinding machine was turning its abrasive wheels in anticipation to decimate whatever was thrown between them. "How was I supposed to know he'd have a new deck? For what it's worth, it's your fault, you gave me false information!"

"He's just a kid with a deck standing between me and my money." Mauro, who was standing beside him, said, completely ignoring the accusations. "And if you didn't know this about me, let me be perfectly clear: I _love_ money. Seriously wonderful stuff. All that crap about _can't buy you happiness…_ Uh-uh. It can buy you _anything."_ He droned on, pacing around the dangling duelist. Then he approached him, only a few centimeters between their faces. "Say for instance, I was in the market for new duelists to take down that snot-nosed brat and his despicable patron. How long do you think it'd take me to find suitable replacements? How many men would slaughter their families just to get a job interview? Why? Money. And you, my friend," Mauro prodded him with is finger, causing him to spin a little. "Have cost me a considerable quantity of it." He approached the controls of the grinder, but his cell phone rang. "Hello? Yeah, he's right here. He's… you know… rethinking his career choices. Yes I have his deck, and a special surprise planned. Ok, see you at the safe house."

"Wait! Give me another chance! Now that I know his deck, I know I can beat him!" The dangling duelist pleaded. Mauro looked at him over his shoulder, then back at the controls.

"No. I never back a losing pony twice. And you, my friend, you couldn't even finish the race." Then he pulled a lever, causing the chain that held the duelist's legs to fall freely towards the grinder.


	8. Chapter 8

I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I had no time to do it yesterday. With that out of the way...

"So what's this important thing you wanted to talk about with me? "Luca asked Bogdan while inviting him in his appartment with a gentle tap on Bogdan's back that nearly threw him on the floor.

"Well, I wanted to know what happened between you and Bruno that made him strip you of the position as main pit dog. "Bogdan started the maneuvering. Luca's smile disappeared.

"Why would you want to know about that?"

"It's kind of important to me. I'd like to know who my predecessor was, how it was for you when you held the position, why were you demoted, etc. It might help me cope with all this, as I'm new to this mafia shit and the stress of all the risks is starting to get to me. Maybe I'll get some pointers or tips from a seasoned duelist and mobster." Bogdan tried to look as innocent as possible. Luca didn't seem to buy all of it though. He just stared at Bogdan intently, as if trying to peek under the layer of that innocence and see the true motives. That made Bogdan nervous.

"I guess I could tell you the whole story. I like you and I don't want you to end up like me, or worse." Luca softened up at last.

"That bad, huh?" Bogdan almost burst into laughter. Every component of his plan was going smoothly. It was clear as day that Luca held a personal grudge against Bruno, and it was up to Bogdan to exploit it.

"I was just a little older than you back when I took interest in the game. The game was only a couple years old, and decks like the infamous Yata Lock, Envoy Chaos and Thousand Eyes Metamorphosis reigned supreme. My first ever deck was the dreaded Cyber Stein deck. You pay 5000 life points to activate Cyber Stein's effect and it would let you special summon a fusion monster bypassing the fusion process. So I would summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, equip it with Megamorph, thus doubling its attack as long as I had lower life points than the opponent, and beat face. Or I could tribute it for Ring of Destruction in order to inflict burn damage equal to its attack to both of us, and then chaining Barrel Behind the Door to protect myself from it, stuff like that. The deck was beastly for its time. So I took it to the first ever Italian national tournament and took first place with it. I instantly became a superstar. That's when I was contacted by Bruno with an offer to be his pit dog in the underground duels he and some other mafia bosses had just started hosting. I refused, of course, not wanting to have anything to do with the mafia, but he wouldn't give up. He and his organization drove my family's business into the ground with their racket schemes, and before you know it, we were neck deep in debts. So I had no choice but to accept his proposition in order to pay off the debts. I plotted revenge and sent anonymous letters to the police, but they always ended up on his desk, until I figured that the police was corrupt and on his payroll. He never caught me though, because I wrote the letters with my left hand so that I could mask my handwriting, or used letters clipped from a newspaper to form the words. I tried other methods too, but everything ended to no avail. Eventually I lost all hope and just went on with the flow. Of course, putting that aside, life under Bruno wasn't so bad. I kept winning and in return, I had money, power, and women, and it was this that made me lose track of what was important. Until the day my duel ended in a draw and this unexpected result made literally everybody lose money. Nobody could have anticipated a draw, so they all had placed their bets either on me, or the opponent. And we're talking about big money here, serious business. I was decimating the opponent, having full 8000 life points, when he screwed me over. Fucking Self-Destruct Button, man. Bruno was furious. They knocked me out from behind, blindfolded me and tied my hands and drove me to this abandoned warehouse, where they beat the living hell out of me. Now that I think about it, maybe it would have been better if I had lost. The same thing happened to my opponent as well. Poor kid didn't survive the beating. Lucky him. That meant I had to pay back everything I made them lose, as opposed to the initial plan to divide it between me and my opponent. The whole sum of everybody's losses was added to my initial debt. After that life went on as usual, I was back on the dueling scene and had started a new winning streak. Until you won the last tournament and took my place." Luca rose from his seat as he finished the sentence. Bogdan gulped and shrunk into the armchair. Luca noticed that and laughed.

"Don't worry, I have no beef with you. You are, with minor differences in our stories, in the same boat as me. Thing is, now I have to do all sorts of dirty work for him in order to pay off the debts. The work is shittier, the pay is shittier, and the debts instead of going down, go up." He poured coffee in Bogdan's cup. Bogdan had no idea that Luca had it even worse than he had. He initially intended to use his trust in him in order to extract more information on Bruno and take the whole organization, Luca included, down. But now he wanted to help Luca. To save him. What he was about to do was gamble and could ruin everything, or advance the plan much further than anticipated by securing himself a material witness willing to cooperate.

"Luca, what I'm about to tell you, I beg of you, let it remain between me and you. It must not come out of this room." Started Bogdan. Luca paused and gave him a long look, then nodded.

"I'm in contact with some members in the DIGOS. Not the ones here in Genoa, I don't trust them. I'm talking about Rome. I don't think Bruno's influence stretches to Rome. I have been collecting evidence for the past several months on everything and everybody. Pictures, videos, taped conversations, computer data, everything I could get my hands on, and they have a substantial case file by now. So, I'm here today to offer you a shot to freedom, a better chance than any you ever had until now. Spotless clean record. I can even provide you with a written confirmation of what I'm saying now. All I ask of you is to become a witness when they arrest Bruno. You are the final and most important piece of my plan. Please, accept this and we can both walk away. Free men. Turn yourself in when I give you the go, and they'll arrest you. They'll expedite the court proceedings where you will be convicted. Once inside the system, they'll assign you a new identity and release you. Free and clear. Think about it and let me know, so that I can inform Rome about your decision. Of course, you have the choice of ratting me out to Bruno. My plan will be stopped dead in its tracks, and bad things will happen to me and my family, while you will be rewarded, but I know that you'll do the right thing. There is no greater reward than freedom."

Later that day, after he got back from Luca's place, he immediately sat down to write Ilena a new email: _I have secured ourselves a mole and a future witness. His name is Luca. He's one of Bruno's most trusted men. He dueled for him, did other crimes, cut the crust off his PB &J, you name it. Let Raffaele know so we can set up a meeting between them. Hearts & farts. B. _He attached Luca's photos he had snapped before when they dueled, and pressed _send._ The familiar envelope sprouted wings and flew away off-screen.

"Are you ready for tonight's show?" Bruno asked Bogdan as they drove to the place where the next duel was to be held.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Bogdan grinned.

"Enthusiastic, are we?" Bruno raised an eyebrow. Being used to Bogdan's grumpy mood before every duel, he found it strange that Bogdan was so full of energy and hyped up.

"I can't wait, honestly."

"I don't want to burst your bubble, but this next duel will be a little different." Bruno said. Bogdan looked at him.

"How different?" He asked cautiously.

"It's a survival match, you need to beat three opponents. As soon as one opponent is defeated, another will step in his place and take over the field situation left by the previous."

"You mean it'll be connected in a single duel?"

"Yes."

"And I have to remain with the current deck and life point count without shuffling the cards back or resetting my life points after I beat one?"

"Yes."

"And the next opponent will take control of any set cards or surviving monsters and graveyard contents left by the previous, while entering with a full deck and full life points?"

"Yes."

"And you agreed to these obviously unfair conditions?"

"Yes."

"Are you trying to have me lose?! No fucking way! Not on your life! Measure me up for the ol' pinewood sleeping bag! Bring on the flowers and hang the flag at half-mast! Call the Grim Reaper, collect! Stick a fork in me cuz I am officially D-U-N! Done!"

"I had no choice. There's an unreal amount of money bet on this duel. And most are on your opponents, so your odds are pretty slim. That means when you win we'll get so much money I can go in retirement!"

"Your greed has no bounds, has it?"

"It's like the universe, limitless." Bruno grinned, spreading his arms. Bogdan shook his head in disapproval, opened his bag and pulled out a card binder.

"Human stupidity is also like that. Oh well, then I better make some adjustments to the deck, seeing as I'll need to have enough cards and life points to withstand three fucking opponents." Bogdan said as he started swapping some cards in and out of his deck. They arrived at an old football stadium. There was a sign in front of the entrance informing that it was scheduled for destruction next week. Despite that, the reflectors used to illuminate the field during games were on, and many luxurious cars were parked on the parking lot in front of the stadium. They went in and saw many people sitting on the spectators' seats, eating and drinking. Mauro, the vulture-faced mobster approached them and he and Bruno shook hands, then walked away, immersed in conversation. As Bogdan set foot on the grassy field freshly mowed just for this occasion, a voice echoed from the giant speakers, announcing his arrival, and he saw his face on a gigantic screen on one side of the stadium.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Your wait has come to an end as the champion has finally arrived! After winning last year's national championship he became a super star in the dueling world and was spotted by the talent hunter Bruno Lomellini! And, like a Brazilian footballer, he has shed his clunky extracomunitarian name! So without further ado, I present to you the one! The only! B-Dog the Underdog!" Bellowed the commentator.

"Ay! Who gave you permission to give me lame nicknames? The name's Bogdan! Surely it's not that hard to pronounce!" Bogdan shook his fist in the air.

"Deeming normal duels a laughing matter for our champion, this evening we have a special duel for you, modified to offer you maximum adrenaline! The champion will participate in a survival duel against three opponents! While they will each enter the duel with full deck and life point count, and can cooperate by leaving important cards on the field or graveyard for the next duelist, the champion will have to beat them all without resetting his life points and shuffling his deck together! 8000 life points and 40 cards against 24 000 life points and 120 cards should be enough to bring even the national champion's full potential out and make him break a sweat, while at the same time offering you a never before seen spectacle of epic proportions! But enough talk, let the duel begin!" As the commentator finished, Bogdan's first opponent positioned himself in front of him and offered him a handshake, which Bogdan accepted. Bogdan used this to size his adversary up. A middle-aged man in a black tuxedo with thin white stripes on it and a matching fedora. The stereotype mobster.

"Where's your Tommy gun, Capone?" Bogdan mocked him.

"In the trunk of my car, between two bags filled with dismembered… Yard trimmings." His opponent smiled.

"Ask a stupid question…"

"The coin toss will decide who will get the first turn. Pick a side." The judge approached them.

"Heads." Bogdan was first to pick. He liked to make the choice as opposed to have the choice made for him. He believed that this way whatever was to happen after the outcome of the coin flip would be the result of his own decisions. The illusion of controlling one's own destiny.

"Tails, the first challenger gets the opening turn."

"Great, as if it wasn't unfair enough, now they'll get to set up before I can do anything. Just great." Bogdan whined.

"The challenger commences the duel!" Said the commentator.

"I set five cards and end my turn." His opponent initiated the duel.

"I knew it. Some gay lock down anti-meta deck. The painfully obvious choice for a duel of this caliber. All righty then, my turn."

"A moment, please. I activate my first trap card Anti-Spell Fragrance. As long as this card is in play we both have to first set our spell cards, then activate them next turn, as opposed to activating them right away." His opponent said as a giant pot with a smiling demonic face on it appeared.

"Fantastic. I set a monster, a back row card and a field spell card. That concludes my turn."

"And the challenger has already played the first card, slowing down the champion! This won't be an easy battle for him!" The commentator roared.

"I activate my second trap card, Embodiment of Apophis! This trap card is one of the rare monster trap cards. When it's activated it is switched from the spell and trap zone to the monster zone and acts as a monster, as well as being a trap. And since it's a monster now, it gets its own stats, namely it's now a level four EARTH reptile with 1600 attack and 1800 defense. Apophis, attack his set monster!" The snakelike creature drew a rapier and slashed the set card, which flipped to reveal a locomotive before it blew up.

"Due to the flip effect of Dekoichi I get to draw a card."

"I end my turn." His opponent declared. Bogdan drew and a faint smile curved his lips as he saw the card.

"Now I can flip the set Geartown and activate it. And since only you have a monster on the field I special summon Cyber Dragon. Then I normal summon Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and activate its effect which lets me halve the attack of one opponent's monster. Now Apophis has only 800 attack points. At this moment I tune both monsters to synchro summon the level eight Scrap Dragon! Then I activate its effect to destroy one card on my field and one card on your field. So I choose Geartown and Anti-Spell Fragrance! And now that Geartown is destroyed, I can special summon an Ancient Gear monster from my deck, namely Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!"

"The champion sets his aggressive beat down strategy in motion with a splendid combo that put two very powerful monsters so early in the game! Is this duel going to be a short one?"

"I activate my trap card Nightmare Wheel! Now Gadjiltron can't attack or change its position, and on my standby phase it'll inflict 500 life point damage."

"Damn it! Ok then. Scrap Dragon, attack Embodiment of Apophis! Scrap Dragon has 2800 attack points, while Apophis has only 800, so you lose the difference of 2000 life points, which puts you down to 6000." Scrap Dragon fired an energy burst from its mouth and blew up the reptilian warrior with an explosion that for a brief moment illuminated the stadium. "I end my turn."

"And the national champion drew first blood! With such powerful field presence he is putting pressure on the challenger!"

"Nightmare Wheel effect activate! You lose 500 life points and go down to 7500. I flip my second trap monster Zoma the Spirit! It now becomes a level four DARK zombie with 1800 attack and 500 defense, but due to its effect it is special summoned on the field in defense position. I set a card and end my turn."

"I activate Scrap Dragon's effect again, but this time I choose Gadjiltron and Zoma!"

"Nice try, to get rid of Nightmare Wheel and destroy another card in the process, but it's not going to work. I activate Fiendish Chain! I equip it to Scrap Dragon and as long as Scrap Dragon remains with this card equipped to it, its effect will be negated and it won't be able to attack." Four chains burst out of the card, ensnaring the dragon. One of them wrapped itself around its mouth, closing it tightly.

"I end my turn." Bogdan narrowed his eyes. _Something's off. Surely he doesn't intend to beat me with Nightmare Wheel. I have way too many cards that destroy spells or traps, and he knows it, he saw Geartown. And with all the cards he played until now, he only managed to slow me down, not stop me completely. Just what is he waiting for? What sort of a win condition could he have?_

"The challenger managed to stop both monsters dead in their tracks!"

"First of all, you lose 500 more life points due to Nightmare Wheel, so now you have 7000. Then I activate my spell card Pot of Duality which lets me reveal the top three cards and add one of them in my hand, but for the turn I cannot special summon monsters. My top three cards are Gravity Bind, Imperial Custom and Sphinx Teleia. I'll keep Teleia and shuffle the rest in my deck. That's all."

"My turn." Bogdan drew. _Sphinx Teleia. Well, now we have something to work with. Now, that set card must be Pyramid of Light._

"Hey, are you sleeping?" His opponent yelled.

"Huh? Oh, no. I was just thinking. Anyway, I set a card and end my turn."

"Enough stalling, time to go into offensive. But before that, you lose 500 life points because of Nightmare Wheel. You now have 6500 life points. I activate my set card Pyramid of Light!"

"I knew it!"

"Then why didn't you do something about it? Now that Pyramid of Light is on the field I pay 500 life points to special summon Andro Sphinx, then pay 500 more to special summon Sphinx Teleia on the field, which puts me to 5000 life points." The two mythical beasts appeared on the field and bellowed with a powerful roar.

"And the challenger goes into the offensive with two behemoths that he summoned effortlessly!"

"Sphinxes, huh? Well, I have a riddle for you. What goes in hard and pink, then comes out soft and sticky?"

"Dude, come on! Somebody may have brought their children here." The gangster complained.

"It's bubblegum, you pervert. Anyway, it's getting way too crowded here. Time to clean up a little. I activate my trap card Torrential Tribute. When you summon a monster I can activate it and destroy all monsters on the field, so Gadjiltron and that annoying Nightmare Wheel, Scrap Dragon and the Fiendish Chain attached to it, Zoma, and the two sphinxes will leave the premises."

"But with that you fulfilled the conditions for the summoning of the last and most powerful of the sphinxes. When both Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia are destroyed at the same time, like the way you did it, I can pay 500 more life points, going down to 4500, and special summon Theinen the Great Sphinx!"

"I was aware of what I was doing, so I prepared myself for Theinen as well. I activate Bottomless Trap Hole! When you summon a monster with 1500 or more attack points, Bottomless Trap Hole will destroy it and banish it. There's a reason why I'm the champion, mate." Bogdan smiled.

"I expected nothing less of the national champion. I activate my trap card Metal Reflect Slime which becomes a level 10 WATER aqua monster with 0 attack and 3000 defense, and is special summoned in defense mode. That would be all."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the peak of dueling skill! The challenger telegraphed his intentions by revealing Sphinx Teleia, and that information was enough for the champion to foresee the whole strategy and prepare answers for it, getting rid of three high attack powered monsters and the trap card that was eating away his life points. But his opponent was ready for the worst and ended his turn with an impenetrable wall of 3000 defense points!"

"I activate another Geartown and end." Bogdan crossed his arms, putting the nail of his right thumb between his teeth, his gaze fixed on the slimy blob on his opponent's field. _So what now? I took out the sphinxes, what is he going to do now? But now that I think of it, the sphinxes were way too random in that deck. They felt more like tech cards, not the focus of the deck. Like he added the whole set just because Pyramid of Light is a continuous trap like everything else he played so far. What is the real win condition of that damn deck?_

"I set a card and end."

"I too set a monster and end."

"And it seems we hit a stalemate in the duel, with both adversaries setting cards and passing. We better see some action soon, before everyone falls asleep!" The commentator tried to liven things up. The mobster drew and grinned maliciously as he saw the card.

"Before I win, I'd like to thank you for wasting your trap cards on the sphinxes, that made it safe to do what I'm about to do." Bogdan's eyes widened in anticipation. "I activate my set trap card Solemn Wishes which lets me gain 500 life points every time I draw a card. But its effect is not important, as I remove it, the now useless Pyramid of Light and the trap monster Metal Reflect Slime to special summon the Sacred Beast Uria, Lord of Searing Flames!"

"Well roll me up in flour and bake me for twenty minutes…" Bogdan stepped back, petrified, as the giant red dragon flew down from the clouds. Gasps of amazement could be heard from the spectators.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are some cards that are so rare and so powerful that they are considered legendary! One of these cards is the one that just appeared before your very own eyes! This is truly a one of a time moment, as there probably won't be another time you see Uria, the Lord of Searing Flames, in action! Uria can be special summoned by removing three continuous trap cards from the field to the graveyard, and it gets 1000 attack points for each continuous trap card in the graveyard. So by just tributing those three, Uria enters in play with 3000 attack points. But we have all seen that the challenger's deck was filled with continuous trap cards, including the trap monsters, which are considered both monsters and continuous trap cards. So, let's count them together, shall we? Embodiment of Apophis, Nightmare Wheel, Anti-Spell Fragrance, Zoma the Spirit, Fiendish Chain, along with Pyramid of Light, Metal Reflect Slime and Solemn Wishes he just tributed to fulfill the summoning conditions, give Uria a whopping 8000 attack points, making it capable of destroying any monster along with the rest of his opponent's life points with a single attack! Looks like this duel is nearing to its end." Bruno screamed, jumping from his seat as he saw the attack points of the gigantic serpent rise. Bogdan just stared at it, motionless.

"I activate Uria's effect which lets me destroy a set spell or trap card, and I choose the one you set on your first turn and haven't touched since." Bogdan didn't flinch, his sight still upon Uria, even as it blew away his trap card.

"His set card was Magic Cylinder! That would've been a nasty surprise for his opponent. If he would've attacked recklessly, the champion would've activated it and Uria's 8000 attack points would've been reflected back and made him lose! Now there's only that set monster standing between Uria and the champion's life points!"

"Uria, destroy his set monster!" Bogdan's opponent gave the command and Uria shot a beam of energy which hit the set card and a giant explosion took place.

"My set monster was another copy of Dekoichi, and again, his flip effect lets me draw a card." He reacted automatically, like a robot, only this time his gaze was down on the ground. He then snapped out of it, looked at his cards, and prepared for his turn, placing his hand on the deck in preparation for the draw. Bruno noticed this change in Bogdan's behavior and narrowed his eyes, gripping the metal bar in front of him tightly.

"You're just prolonging the inevitable. I set a card and end my turn." His opponent grinned with a confident smirk.

To be continued next week.


	9. Chapter 9

"Uria, destroy his set monster!" Bogdan's opponent gave the command and Uria shot a beam of energy which hit the set card and a giant explosion took place.

"My set monster was another copy of Dekoichi, and again, his flip effect lets me draw a card." He reacted automatically, like a robot, only this time his gaze was down on the ground. He then snapped out of it, looked at his cards, and prepared for his turn, placing his hand on the deck in preparation for the draw. Bruno noticed this change in Bogdan's behavior and narrowed his eyes, gripping the metal bar in front of him tightly.

"You're just prolonging the inevitable. I set a card and end my turn." His opponent grinned with a confident smirk. Bogdan drew, saw the card, gave a look at the cards in his hand, and then looked his opponent dead in the eye.

"What is, according to you, the inevitable outcome of this duel?"

"You'll lose, of course. Uria has 8000 attack points. There's nothing you can do to stop it."

"But those attack points are the result of Uria's effect, right?" A faint smile danced on his lips again, invisible to everyone else.

"Right. What's your point?"

"And how high is the written attack on Uria's card?" The smile widened, and was noticed by the mobster.

"Zero." His opponent started to feel a little uneasy.

"I see. So that means, if Uria's effect is to be negated, wouldn't it lose all attack points and revert back to zero?" It was now a wide grin. Bogdan never broke eye contact with the mobster the whole time.

"That's true." The judge answered for him.

"Hold on, everybody, it looks like the champion found Uria's weakness! Will he be able to exploit it?" The commentator said.

"I activate my spell card Forbidden Chalice!" Bogdan put the card in the graveyard slot of the duel disk.

"No!" His opponent yelled.

"I can negate the effects of a card for the rest of the turn, but the target monster gains 400 attack points. That means Uria loses all but 400 of its attack points. And I guess it's only fitting that one legendary monster defeats another. Seeing as I have Geartown on the field, I can special summon Malefic Cyber End Dragon by banishing the original Cyber End Dragon from the extra deck."

"And a member of the Malefic series makes an appearance! It's a clash of the Titans!" Bogdan could see Bruno in the corner of his eye, screaming in happiness.

"Now I normal summon Machina Gearframe and with its effect I search out Machina Fortress from my deck to add to my hand. Now it's time to finish you off. Malefic Cyber End Dragon, attack Uria!" Malefic Cyber End Dragon's three heads charged up energy in their mouths and shot the enormous red dragon down, which disintegrated upon hitting the ground. "Now that you're down to only 500 life points, Gearframe will do short work of you. Gearframe, attack him directly!" The little robot tried to punch the mobster in the face, but the hologram projection went right through him.

"And the first challenger is defeated! Only two more left! But the way he defeated Uria! Incredible, ladies and gentlemen. Just incredible! While under pressure, he managed to find Uria's weak point, use it to his advantage, turn the tables by summoning his own legendary monster, and win! But, it's still too early to celebrate, as there are two more adversaries! Will he be able to defeat them all and defend his title? Or will he go down in flames? We're about to find out, as the second challenger takes his place on the other side of the field!"

"Judge, is it still my turn? It should be, I think." Bogdan asked the judge.

"Yes, it's still the battle phase, theoretically the duel is still in progress." He confirmed.

"Thanks. In main phase 2 I use the union effect of Gearframe and equip it to Malefic Cyber End Dragon to protect it from destruction. That's all. Your turn."

"Before I start, I want to say it's an honor to be standing here, dueling against you, the national champion himself. It's quite ironic that the Italian national champion is not of Italian origin. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is-"

"Asskiss McButtcheek. You might want to cut the crap and start playing, it's about to snow."

"That was rude. Anyway, I'm-"

"Nigga, I don't care if you're Berlusconi himself. Well, this is a mafia thing, so you might just be him. But still I'm not here to make friends, especially not with you because you look like the type of dude that would stab me in the face for a can of sardines in a zombie apocalypse." Many people from the audience were laughing, which added to the mobster's anger after those insults.

"What?! Do you realize who you're speaking to, you underdeveloped midget?!" The man lost his cool and got up in Bogdan's face, yelling.

"Whoa, killer, say it, don't spray it. I asked for the news, not the weather. P.S.: grab yourself a dictionary or google "breath mints", you'd be doing all of us a favor." Bogdan didn't flinch. The audience was roaring in laughter.

"Why you little shit, I'm gonna-"

"Physical contact between opponents is strictly forbidden and will result in disqualification, so please, behave yourself, Mr. Mancin." The judge warned him, and the mobster backed off.

"Suck it, bitch." Bogdan flipped him off, laughing.

"Fucking kid. Let's get this over with! I activate my continuous spell card Crystal Tree, then summon Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat."

"Pfft. Okay." Bogdan let a grunt of contained laughter escape his lips.

"Now what?!" Mancin barked.

"I'll tell you after you finish your turn."

"Amethyst Cat can attack directly, but its attack will be halved, so you only receive 600 life point damage. That should put you to 5900 life points. I set two cards and end my turn. So what was that grunt about?"

"My common sense is tingling. At least the guy before you was fun to duel against. I had no idea what was his win condition until the last turn. You, on the other hand, will bore me to death. Obviously you intend to use the ability of the Crystal Beasts to turn into continuous spell cards after they're destroyed so you can fulfill the summoning conditions of Hamon, the Lord of Striking Thunder. You probably have Rainbow Dragon or his dark counterpart as a secondary boss monster too. Maybe even the Malefic version of it. But none of it matters now. It became obvious to me the moment you played Amethyst Cat, so putting Crystal Beasts and the fact that the first challenger summoned Uria together is like summing up two plus two."

"And the national champion with his amazing prediction skills and knowledge of the game just ruined the duel for us by telling all the spoilers out loud! Way to go, kid. Way to go." The commentator said.

"Glad to oblige. It's also obvious that the last guy has Raviel in his fiend deck. How's this for a spoiler? There. It started snowing. I'll wake up with a cold tomorrow. If I ever feel my hand again I'll strangle Bruno in his cozy leather armchair. Then I'll shoot the mook who invented snow right between the - though it probably was a woman who invented it, who else could make it so damn cold. And you, be prepared, I'm going slap you around like a red-headed step-child. My turn. I normal summon Genex Neutron, then change Machina Gearframe back into a monster and special summon it from the back to the front row. Malefic Cyber End Dragon, attack Amethyst Cat!"

"I activate my trap card Last Resort, which lets me search my deck for the field spell card Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins and activate it immediately, destroying Geartown in the process and you get to draw a card because you already have field spell card in play. Unfortunately for you, Geartown's second effect to special summon an Ancient Gear monster loses its timing because it's not the last thing to happen, before that it's the draw effect and the activation itself of Ancient City. And because there is a moment between the destruction of your field spell and the activation of my field spell that there is no field spell present, Malefic Cyber End Dragon will destroy itself because it cannot remain on the field without a field spell present." The rusty metal buildings were replaced with the remains of an ancient civilization.

"Not too shabby. Okay then, I attack Amethyst Cat with Genex Neutron."

"I activate another trap card called Crystal Pair, which, when a Crystal Beast monster is destroyed in battle, lets me search the deck for a Crystal Beast monster and put it in the back row like a continuous spell card, and after that is done Crystal Pair negates the battle damage that I was to receive, so I choose Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle. And, like you said before, when a Crystal Beast monster is destroyed I can put it in my spell and trap zone like a continuous card, so Amethyst Cat goes from the front to the back row. And for each Crystal Beast monster that goes to the back row the spell card Crystal Tree I activated on the first turn gets a counter, so for Cobalt Eagle and Amethyst Cat I get two counters."

"Dude, can I play a little, too? Gearframe attacks you directly and you lose 1800 life points which puts you to 6200 life points. In the end phase when Genex Neutron was summoned I can search my deck for a machine tuner and add it to my hand, so I choose Genex Ally Birdman. I end my turn." Bogdan put his hands to his face and breathed in them in an attempt to warm them.

"I activate Rare Value which lets me draw two cards after you select one Crystal Beast monster-turned-continuous spell card and send it to the graveyard."

"Amethyst Cat. Get on with it."

"Now I activate the effect of Crystal Tree. I send this card to the graveyard and put two Crystal Beast monsters from my deck to the back row, one for each counter that was on the card, so I select Emerald Tortoise and Topaz Tiger. Now I set a monster and a card and end my turn."

"I special summon Genex Ally Birdman by returning Machina Gearframe back to my hand and tune it to Genex Neutron to synchro summon Genex Ally Triforce. Then Birdman banishes himself instead of going to the graveyard because he was special summoned with his effect."

"Trap card Crystal Raigeki activate! I send to the graveyard Topaz Tiger from the back row to destroy Genex Ally Triforce." The mobster smiled. Bogdan growled in annoyance.

"I summon Machina Gearframe again and search another Machina Fortress from the deck and add it to my hand. I discard Fortress and Meklord Emperor Skiel to special summon the Fortress I just discarded. Fortress can be special summoned from the hand or graveyard by discarding machines whose total levels equal eight or more. The cool thing is Fortress can be discarded for its own summon effect and it fulfills seven of the eight levels. Now Gearframe, attack the set monster!"

"Amber Mammoth, like every other Crystal Beast monster, when destroyed goes to the back row and becomes a continuous spell card."

"But now your field is empty! Machina Fortress, attack him directly! You lose 2500 life points." The orange tank pointed its giant barrel at the mobster and fired its salvo, but it shrunk half its size mid-air before exploding upon hitting its intended target.

"Actually, I lose only half of that. I activate the effect of Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins. When I have two Crystal Beasts in the spell and trap zone, once per turn I can halve the battle damage I receive from an attack. So now I have 4950 life points." The mobster explained after the smoke cleared.

"I set a card and end my turn."

"I activate my spell card Dark Hole!"

"Oh, shit! I completely forgot to union Gearframe to Fortress for destruction protection. Damn it!"

"What a maroon. I summon Sapphire Pegasus and attack you directly! You lose 1800 life points and now have 4100 life points left. Now I activate my second copy of the spell card Rare Value, which lets me draw two cards after you send a Crystal Beast from the back row."

"Ruby Carbuncle. Come on, dude! I'm freezing over here!" _Is he using the snow against me? I tried to piss him off and make him misplay, but his tactic will be more efficient in the long run, I can't feel my fingers anymore._

"I set a card and end my turn." The mobster grinned as he noticed Bogdan shaking.

"The two duelists are exchanging blows, shaving down each other's life points slowly but surely. The champion's life points are already halved! In this toe to toe battle, just who will come out on top?" The commentator said.

"I set a monster and end my turn."

"Time to end this." Bogdan's opponent smiled confidently.

"They all say that." Bogdan rolled his eyes.

"It looks like something big is about to happen! Will we see the second Sacred Beast? Or maybe the great Rainbow Dragon?"

"How about both?" The second challenger responded. Bogdan braced himself.

"I activate the trap card Rainbow Gravity! This trap allows me to special summon Rainbow Dragon from the deck or graveyard when I have all seven Crystal Beasts on the field and in the graveyard!" A rainbow shot out from one of the ruins and a silhouette of a dragon flew up into the darkened cloudy sky, made a circle then landed behind the duelist. It was gigantic, almost the same size as Uria. It was kinda cool, Bogdan noted.

"And the first boss monster has appeared! Feast your eyes on the fabled Rainbow Dragon!" And then the beast disappeared.

"What the- Where did my monster go?" Bogdan's opponent was confused.

"Your monster never even hit the field." Bogdan responded.

"Explain!"

"I negated it's summon with the trap card Solemn Warning by paying 2000 life points, which lowered me to 2100 life points."

"Nice reaction, but that just made it safe for me to summon Hamon the Lord of Striking Thunder! I tribute Sapphire Pegasus to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch and activate its effect. I destroy Kuraz itself and Cobalt Eagle that's in the back row to draw two cards. There it is!" Bogdan's opponent exclaimed after seeing the cards he drew.

"Dude, you have only two Crystal Beast continuous spell cards. You need one more."

"That can be taken care of. I activate the spell card Crystal Blessing which lets me put up to two Crystal Beast monsters from the graveyard to the spell and trap zone. Just one is enough, the Cobalt Eagle I just destroyed. Prepare to meet your doom!" A lightning bolt struck the field and temporarily blinded everybody, and once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw a huge yellow skeletal looking monster hovering above the Crystal Beast duelist.

"And there it is, ladies and gentlemen! The second Sacred Beast, Hamon the Lord of Striking Thunder! This monster can be summoned only by tributing three continuous spell cards, a summoning condition that makes the Crystal Beast deck perfect due to the ability of the monsters to turn into continuous spells, something you've all been witnesses to during the duel. This monster has 4000 attack and defense points and when it destroys another monster by battle it can inflict 1000 points of damage to the controller of the destroyed monster. Also if it's switched to defense position the opponent cannot attack any other monster but this one. So, what will the national champion do? Will he manage to find a weakness to this monster as well?"

"Hamon, attack that set monster!"

"The set monster is my third and final copy of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and I get to draw a card due to its flip effect."

"But you also receive 1000 points of damage because Hamon destroyed your monster. That puts you to 1100 life points. I set a card and end my turn. You're finished."

"I don't think so. I just drew my fifth card and the combo that will take you and Hamon out is ready to be executed."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the champion just declared that he's about to win! Let's see what he has in store for us this time, when facing the second Sacred Beast!"

"First I activate the third and final copy of my field spell card Geartown, destroying your Ancient City. Then I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior, and upon summoning him I add a spell counter on him, which raises his attack from 1600 to 1900 attack points. But that doesn't matter as I immediately remove it to destroy a spell or trap card on the field. I'd very much like to destroy one of those two set cards over there, but I have to destroy Geartown so I can call Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon back from the graveyard to the field. Now I activate the spell card Enemy Controller and I choose its second effect. By tributing Breaker I take control of Hamon for the rest of the turn. Now Hamon and Gadjiltron, attack him directly, and finish this!" Hamon raised his skeletal arm and a thunderbolt struck the mobster where he stood, followed by a barrage of rockets, creating an explosion that again illuminated the field with its intensity.

"And he also takes out the second challenger! And with his own Sacred Beast no less! Only one remains! Will the champion be able to defeat him as well? Or will the third and last challenger be able to defeat him? Do remember that the champion used up more than half of his deck already, has only one card in his hand, just above 1000 life points and at the end of his turn he has to give up Hamon to his opponent! Even if he's the champion, it's a miracle he lasted so long and is in these conditions! The last opponent is taking his place where the first two had been before him, and the third part of this epic duel is about to start!"

"Ah, fresh meat." Bogdan smiled as the last challenger turned his duel disk on.

"Ready?" His opponent drew five cards.

"Straight to the point, huh? No thrash talk? It's just so much less fun making jokes if the person you intend to annoy doesn't bite. It's like having halitosis in an elevator with nobody to share it with. I just stinks to be alone." Bogdan complained. His opponent didn't react, even after the laughter from the audience. He just stood there with the cards in his hands, staring at Bogdan intently. "Dude, the bad-ass pose covers more insecurities than the Leaning Tower of Pisa's Rooftop Ming Vase collection." Bogdan tried again. No reaction. He sighed. "Alrighty then. Since it's still my turn, I'll end it with a bang. I activate the spell card Mystik Wok which lets me tribute a monster I control and select either its attack or defense points and add them as life points. I choose Hamon and since its attack and defense are both 4000 it doesn't matter what I choose, I get 4000 life points all the same. That brings me up to 5100 life points."

"Incredible! The champion tributed a Sacred Beast in exchange for life points! I've never seen anybody think outside the box like this! If this duel wasn't illegal it would've gone straight in history!" The audience exploded in applause. Even though it was an illegal duel, Bogdan still enjoyed the spotlight, and waved at the public.

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. That ends my turn."

"I activate my spell card Messenger of Peace. As long as this card is in play monsters with 1500 attack or more cannot attack, and each standby phase I have to pay 100 life points, otherwise the card will self-destruct. That should be all."

"Again with the lockdowns? Haven't you learned yet? These gay-ass strategies don't work on me. I set a monster and end my turn." Bogdan placed the card on the monster slot and pressed the end turn button on his duel disk. His opponent drew, looked at the card and let a faint smile curve the lips on his emotionless face. Bogdan didn't like that smile. It was one of those self-confident smiles that promise nothing good. A smile he knew all too well, after having it seen on countless duelists' faces just before they made some big combo.

"Perfect. I refuse to pay the life point requirement for Messenger of Peace, and because of that it is destroyed. Now I activate Flute of Summoning Kuriboh which lets me either special summon a Kuriboh or Winged Kuriboh from the deck on the field or add it to my hand, so I search out Kuriboh and special summon it on the field. At this point I activate the spell card Multiply, which, when Kuriboh is on the field, lets me special summon two Kuriboh Tokens."

"Here it comes."

"Exactly. I tribute the three monsters to special summon the third Sacred Beast, Raviel the Lord of Phantasms!" A circle of green flames formed on the field and a gigantic blue demon, kneeing and covered with the wings appeared in the middle of it. Then it suddenly stood up, let out a deafening roar and flapped itswings, producing a shockwave which put the flames out.

"As predicted, the third Sacred Beast makes its appearance! Raviel the Lord of Phantasms can be special summoned only by tributing three fiends, and that cute little two-card combo of multiplying Kuriboh provided the requirements in just one turn! Raviel's effect allows it's user to special summon a Phantasm Token with 1000 attack every time the adversary normal summons a monster. Then, before attacking, Raviel can tribute one monster to increase its own attack by the amount of attack points the tribute monster had. This chain of effects gives Raviel extra 1000 attack points every time the opponent normal summons a monster, putting it to 5000 attack points! Having no cards in his hand, the champion is in a real jam right now!" The commentator yelled in the microphone.

"Raviel, attack Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon! You lose 1000 life points and go down to 4100. I set a card and end my turn."

"I set the card I just drew, and flip summon the set monster to reveal that it's Morphing Jar. Its flip effect allows both of us to discard all cards in our hands and draw five new cards. I have no cards in my hand, so I just draw, while you replace the two you have with five new ones."

"And the champion makes a comeback by replenishing his hand with a well-timed Morphing Jar! But this means he has only 10 cards in his deck! This really is an exhausting duel!"

"I summon the tuner monster Black Salvo and activate its effect, which, when normal summoned lets me special summon a level four DARK machine monster from the graveyard, and I choose Dekoichi."

"Raviel's effect activates. Since you normal summoned a monster, Raviel can special summon a Phantasm Token to my side of the field."

"Now I tune the level two Morphing Jar, level three Black Salvo and level four Dekoichi to synchro summon Mist Wurm, which lets me return to your hand up to three cards from your hand, so say goodbye to Raviel, that Phantasm Token and the card you just set."

"And he does it again! He defeated the three Sacred Beasts in three different ways! This just goes to show that you don't mess with the national champion! Ladies and gentlemen, this duel is finally coming to an end!" The commentator was amazed.

"Now Mist Wurm, attack him directly! Your life points are now 5500. Your move."

"I guess it's time to stop the games and get serious."

"Now you decided to get serious!?" Bogdan scoffed.

"Yes, and it's the perfect moment. First I activate my spell card Dark Hole to destroy all monsters on the field."

"That's a first. A limited spell card being activated twice in a duel and still being a legal move. Shit just got real."

"Now I activate the set spell card my first team mate set for me, Monster Reborn, and special summon his Sacred Beast! Say hello again to Uria the Lord of Searing Flames! Again Uria gets 8000 attack points for each continuous trap card in the graveyard."

"Dude! Again?"

"Not just Uria! I activate the set trap card my second team mate left for me, Call of the Haunted! Be revived, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder! Missed him?"

"Not really, no."

"And it's only fitting that the third Sacred Beast should join the other two. I summon Phantom Skyblaster which summons Skyblaster Tokens for each monster I control. I currently have three, but I can only summon two tokens and fill up the monster zone. Now I tribute Phantom Skyblaster and its two tokens to special summon Raviel, Lord of Phantasms again!

"Amazing! All three Sacred Beasts together on the field, and all of them summoned in just one turn! We'll be needing a new champion in a few minutes!"

"Do it!" Bogdan spoke to his opponent.

"I don't have to. You're about to lose. I activate Uria's effect and destroy your left set card. There goes your Mirror Force."

"Now you can do it, you took away my protection."

"Hm… You have a point there."

"Plus, nobody has ever done it in the history of dueling. You'd go down in history as the first ever duelist to do it. Then again so will I, though as the duelist who lost to it."

"Can we know what are you two talking about?" The commentator asked them.

"Ever heard of Armityle?" Bogdan responded with another question.

"But of course! How didn't I see it! Ladies and gentlemen, get ready, as we may be witnesses to the first ever summoning of a monster so powerful and difficult to summon, that it has never been achieved in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! Armityle the Chaos Phantom is a fusion monster made of the three Sacred Beasts, but not by using Polymerization or stuff like that. No, ladies and gentlemen. It's far more difficult than playing a simple spell card and discarding the three monsters. You actually have to summon all three on the field, then contact fuse them together. Just like the situation before our eyes. And the third challenger has just destroyed the champion's trap card Mirror Force, before that the first challenger destroyed Magic Cylinder, and the champion already used Torrential Tribute and Solemn Warning so he didn't use that last set card to negate any of the three summons. We can also see that he has no monsters on the field, so if it's a Limiter Removal, it's useless. Even a Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness can't save him if his opponent attacks him, firstly because his field isn't empty, secondly because Armityle has 10 000 attack points! Ten fucking thousand, if you'll pardon my French! That set card can save him only if it's a Threatening Roar, but it will prolong the duel by just one turn. One other card that could save him is a Battle Fader from his hand, but just the same, it will prolong the duel by only one turn. I say do it, what say you?" After analyzing the situation for the public, the commentator spoke his mind on the matter.

"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" Everybody that watched the duel started chanting in unison.

"Give the people what they want, man." Bogdan said.

"Well, the commentator is right, the most you can do is postpone the duel by one turn, and even that is highly unlikely. Very well then. I fuse the three Sacred Beasts to fusion summon Armityle the Chaos Phantom! Armityle, attack him directly and end this duel!"

"Oh, he will end it alright. I activate my trap card Magic Cylinder! All 10 000 attack points are reflected back to you. It's finally over!" Bogdan yelled as he pressed the spell and trap activation button on the duel disk corresponding to the slot the card was inserted in _. Good thing I caught everything on the duel disc camera, I have to send this to Ilena. She'll shit bricks when she sees this epic duel._ He thought.

"Impossible! My teammate destroyed that trap card the first time Uria was summoned!"

"Magic Cylinder is semi-limited on the ban list. He can confirm it." Bogdan pointed at the judge, who nodded. As the great beast shot a beam of energy out of its arm which had the shape of Uria's head with an open mouth like a cannon, a big cylinder appeared before Bogdan and absorbed the attack. Then it turned the end facing Bogdan towards the third challenger and released the energy beam. A big explosion which temporarily blinded everybody present on the field took place. Bogdan shielded his eyes with his arms.

"Unbelievable! The champion destroyed each Sacred Beast one at a time, and even all of them fused together weren't enough to stop him! The third opponent was so blinded by the promise of glory that, in the worst wasted opportunity since someone asked a genie to get him a regular lamp, fused the Sacred Beasts in a single monster and ran head-first in a suicide trap. I am speechless, so I'll sign out now. Just incred-" Click! The commentator turned off the microphone halfway through the sentence. Bogdan walked out of the field and back to where Bruno was.

"You. Are. Awesome!" He hugged Bogdan.

"I'm also freezing." Bogdan smiled. "I'm heading home to have myself some juice, snuggle with my blankie, and go nap-nap."


	10. Chapter 10

Bogdan came in Bruno's office to find him counting the money from the last duel. Bruno lifted his head and his face spread in a wide grin.

"Hello, my young prodigy! Come in, come in! Make yourself comfortable and try one of these cigarettes."

"Aren't you in a good mood today? And people have invented an electronic money counter, man. Much easier, much faster." Bogdan took one of the offered cigarettes, lit it and inhaled.

"Nah, I like doing it the old fashioned way. It's my favorite hobby." The grin never leaved Bruno's face.

"No shit. Anyway, I came here to ask you something."

"Anything you want. You deserve it."

"I'd like to take a vacation and go home for a month or so. I haven't seen my parents and sister for over a year." Bogdan said. Bruno stopped counting for a second and looked at him. Then he sighed and grinned again.

"Why not? Take two months instead of one. Rest a little. Recharge your batteries. But before you go you have to do one last gig for me, and I'll drive you to the airport myself."

"For fuck's sake, man, haven't you had enough already?" Bogdan protested.

"As far as I'm concerned, you can leave today. Say the word and I'll call Mauro to cancel the gig. But be honest with yourself here. You've acquired the taste, haven't you? You get off on overcoming the challenges. I saw it in your eyes the other day, you couldn't get enough of it. You are the best at reading people when you duel, but I read people for a living, and you're an open book to me." Bogdan gave him a long hard look, then sighed.

"God damn it. What's the catch on this one?"

"No catch, as far as I know, a simple one on one. All Mauro said is the opponent has something tailor made just for you." Bruno explained.

"Great, I bet it's going to be one of those gay decks that shut you down or something. They tried that once and it didn't work so well for them." Bogdan rolled his eyes.

"Just go over there and steamroll over them. Do what you do best so we can go on with our lives. Of course, you know what's at stake every time you duel, so don't fuck it up." Bruno shook his index finger.

"This looks like the kind of place a ska band would go to shoot heroin." Bogdan was standing in an empty pool, his opponent in the deep end. They had to switch locations for every duel so as to avoid suspicion, or people would ask question why expensive cars park on regular intervals of time in front of the same abandoned building. This time Mauro had chosen an Olympic pool that was used for some competition hosted there, then abandoned. Italy's tax dollars at work. Bogdan turned to see Bruno chatting with some fat dude in a suit, glass of liquor in his hand, with Luca scanning the crowd next to him. His role today was that of a bodyguard, to prevent any attempts at Bruno's life. Then he noticed Mauro staring at him intently. _The fuck is your problem? I don't like that stare. Makes me think he's trying to pull something here. He's never once congratulated me on a win so far, so he's obviously not too happy when I do. Why should he care, if he only organizes the duels and takes his commission for it, he shouldn't care who wins and who loses. Unless…_

"I'd say it's time we kicked things off, don't you think?" Bogdan's opponent, a man in his early forties, dressed in a simple shirt and leather jacket, suggested while drawing five cards. Bruno was right, Bogdan had started loving the thrills of these illegal duels; the real consequences of losing, the extremely rare cards, the challenges. You don't see this in a casual tournament between kids. But he did miss playing against another kid, for the pure, simple, and unadulterated fun of playing a game. The youngest opponent he faced in the pit duels was the millionaire kid with Shooting Star Dragon. Poor sap couldn't handle the pressure of the underground and had snapped. Bogdan was afraid of even imagining what had happened to him after he lost. He drew five cards as well. _What the- Hope for Escape?! God dammit I forgot to take out the cards I added for the last gig. The hell am I going to do with this card now?_ He facepalmed. The judge approached them and tossed a coin. Bogdan declared heads while the coin was mid-air, and when it fell back down in the hands of the judge, he revealed the result.

"Tails!"

"I go first." The goon drew his sixth card, initiating the duel. "I activate Upstart Goblin to draw another card, but you get 1000 life points and go up to 9000. I set a monster and end my turn."

"I summon Genex Neutron in attack position. Neutron, attack his set monster!" Neutron shot a burst of light at the card hologram, which flipped to reveal a monster all too familiar to Bogdan.

"Dekoichi's flip effect, I draw a card." The mobster declared.

"Ok, then. I set a backrow card and end my turn. In the end phase Neutron's effect activates and I get to search my deck for a machine-type tuner, so I add Black Salvo." Bogdan passed. _Too early to determine what sort of deck he's playing, but so far I've seen only draw effects. Is he playing Exodia, or something scrubby like that?_ Bogdan thought.

"My turn. Since I control no monsters, and you do, I special summon Cyber Dragon, then I normal summon Black Salvo, which activates its effect, special summoning Dekoichi from the graveyard in defense position." _That looks awfully close like something I'd do. Is it possible?_ Bogdan narrowed his vision in alertness. "Now I tune my level three Black Salvo and level five Cyber Dragon! Come forth, Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons!" Bogdan took a good look at the monster as it descended upon the field, his Google Glasses providing information on the monster's stats and effects. He had no idea why it was a Dragon-type, looking more like something demonic out of his nightmares. It had a snake-like body, like a Gorgon, two arms, but instead of a head between its shoulders, two serpentine heads protruded on each side under its shoulder pads like another pair of appendages. "But I'm not done yet. I activate my quick-play spell card Mask Change 2! By discarding a card from my hand, I can send to the graveyard a monster I control to special summon a Masked HERO fusion monster with the same attribute but a higher level. So I sacrifice Dekoichi to special summon Masked HERO Anki!" Dekoichi dissipated, then the familiar fusion vortex appeared in its place, and an armored superhero stepped out of the portal. "Beelze cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, so that backrow shouldn't pose much of a problem. Beelze, attack Genex Neutron!" As the demonic dragon started charging energy spheres in both mouths, Bogdan revealed his trap card.

"Too bad I'm going to banish it. I activate Dimensional Prison!" A portal appeared below Beelze, and it, losing its footing, fell through, shooting the charged energy upwards into the sky.

"A blunder on my part. But I'm far from finished. Anki, you attack Neutron as well!" Anki lunged at Neutron and delivered an uppercut so powerful it broke the robot's head clear off, launching it in the air. "You're down by 1000 life points, back to 8000. When Anki destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, I can add a "Change" quick-play spell card from my deck to my hand, so I add Form Change. That concludes my turn." _So monsters that are easy to summon and a bunch of wieners that work together, then he replaces them with synchros and these Kamen Rider knock-offs. Not bad. But he'll have to do more than that to bring me down._ Bogdan thought as he drew and saw the card.

"I summon Machina Gearframe! When Gearframe is summoned I can search the deck for another Machina monster and add it to my hand, so I add Machina Megaform. Now I discard Machina Megaform to special summon Machina Fortress! Megaform is level eight, just right for Fortress' summoning condition. Battle! Machina Fortress, attack Masked HERO Anki!" Fortress fired a missile from its cannon at Anki, who jumped at it, caught it mid-air and, with a spin, threw it back at Fortress, blowing it up.

"Nice work, idiot, you lose 300 life points and now have 7700, and I get to add a Mask Change 2 from my deck to my hand." The mobster grinned.

"Yeah, you do that. When Fortress is destroyed I get to destroy a card on the field, so Anki is done here." As the shrapnel from Fortress' body dissipated, a disappearing metal plate in front of Anki revealed another missile below it, which blew up, taking Anki with it. "And when Fortress hits the graveyard, I can special summon Megaform from it in its place. Megaform and Gearframe, attack him directly!" Both Megaform and Gearframe fired their rocket-powered punches, which went through him as the holograms disappeared. "You're down to 3600 life points. I tribute Megaform to summon a second copy of Machina Fortress from my deck, then I equip Gearframe to Fortress. Your turn, bitch." Now Bogdan was grinning. His opponent growled in anger and yanked out a card from his deck.

"I summon Machina Gearframe as well, and add Machina Fortress from my deck." Then it hit Bogdan like a sledgehammer.

"Now I understand what's going on here! You people tried to copy my deck, but you had insufficient info on it. You haven't seen every card in my deck and you couldn't get copies of the Malefic and Meklord monsters I possess due to the rarity of said cards, so you decided to improvise, give it your own spin. This is probably why you made a show like the last one, a long-ass duel where I would play a lot of cards and different combos and you could later study it and try to recreate it. If I lost then and there, problem solved, if I won, you would have your data and would try to beat me with my own deck. It was win-win either way. Problem with that is, what you created is ultimately a cheap knock-off of my deck and you will never beat me with it. I've hand-picked every card from the whole card pool available right now, and know every single combo it is capable of making. Success without hard work is like cumming without stroking. It can only happen in your dreams. And I intend to prove it to you by defeating this clown. Go on, then, show me what you learned so far." Bogdan gestured with his hand a "come-at-me" sign.

"I activate Mask Change 2, and by discarding a card I send Gearframe to the graveyard to special summon the Earth-attributed Masked HERO Dian! Dian, attack Machina Fortress!"

"I detach the equipped Machina Gearframe to save Fortress from destruction!" Bogdan reacted.

"But you still lose 300 life points and go down to 7400."

"Big deal, 300 life points are nothing to me."

"Then prepare to lose even more. I activate Form Change! I return Dian to the extra deck and special summon another Masked HERO with the same level as Dian, and I choose another Masked HERO Anki! Now Anki, destroy Fortress in this déjà vu!" Anki charged a ball of dark light between his hands, then threw it at Fortress, which blew up, scattering metal parts everywhere. "Anki destroyed a monster, so now I can add another Mask Change 2 from my deck to my hand. You're down to 7100 life points." Meanwhile, the shrapnel from Fortress' body shredded Anki's torso, destroying it.

"Machina Fortress destroys Anki, then I can special summon Machina Megaform from my graveyard again. Have you forgotten that it's a cycle?" Bogdan inquired.

"No, I haven't. That's why I activate Raigeki to destroy Megaform and, at least for the time being, stop this recurring monster. I end my turn."

"I activate the continuous spell card Supply Squad, then set a monster and a backrow card. This should do for now. Your turn."

"Time to go in the offensive, and show you the real power of this deck. I summon Ghost Charon the Underworld Boatman, then, if you control a monster and I don't I can activate his effect. I discard a card, then I can banish both Charon and a fusion monster in my graveyard to special summon a synchro monster with a combined level equal to the sum of Charon and the fusion, regardless of its summoning requirements. So, Charon's level two and Anki's level eight equal ten, and I summon Majestic Star Dragon!" The silver dragon appeared on the field in a flash of light followed by a shockwave that, for a moment, shone over the light of day, turning it to night, before it came back to normal. Bogdan took a step back, looked at the shining dragon, and whistled in admiration.

"Sweet jibbling jibblets! So that's why you did all those pointless moves just to destroy Fortress. You goaded me into destroying Anki so you can later banish it and summon a synchro monster, ignoring however difficult summoning requirements it has, just as long as it doesn't have the Nomi-clause. Well played, indeed. But according to what I'm reading here on my glasses' display, Majestic Star Dragon returns to your extra deck at the end of the turn. What's the point?" Bogdan shrugged.

"Majestic Star Dragon, attack his set monster!"

"I activate my set trap card Magical Hats! I can select two non-monster cards from my deck, set them on two monster slots on my field, and then shuffle them. Only after this, you can select your attack target."

"Before you do all that Majestic Star Dragon's effect activates! By tributing it I can negate the card you activate and destroy all cards on your side of the field." Majestic Star Dragon exploded, creating another blinding shockwave that wiped away every card on Bogdan's field. "I end my turn."

"Well, that was a very complicated and overkill move just to blow my field up, which you could've done with a simple Black Rose nuke for the exact same result, but I don't judge. What you lack in efficiency, you make up in style. Unfortunately, style itself won't win you the game. Remember the Black Salvo that I added in the beginning with Neutron's effect? Now that I have a Dekoichi in the graveyard, I summon it and special summon said Dekoichi. Now I tune both monsters to synchro summon the level seven Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"!" A robot samurai jumped out of the synchro hoops, drawing his katana sword out of the sheath. "Burei, attack him directly!" Burei lunged and, as it ran past the mobster, it sliced him with the hologram sword, then jumped back to its place. "You're down to a measly 1000 life points, while I'm still over 7000. For all your bravado, you still suck."

"Then maybe it's time I turned the odds in my favor. I summon Ghost Charon again, and activate its effect because you have a monster and I control nothing else. I dump a card from my hand, then banish Charon and the second Anki to special summon the level ten to special summon Beelzeus, the Ultimate Dark Dragon!" A monster even more nightmarish than Beelze appeared on the field. This one was even larger than before, and had a third jaw on its chest. Bogdan's Glasses display was flooded with information on the new card.

"No need to read the thing, I'll explain it to you by demonstration. Just like Beelze, Beelzeus is immune to battle or card effect destruction. Then, Beelzeus' effect lets me lower Burei's attack to zero, then I gain the same amount in life points, so I go back to 3600, effectively rendering your last turn moot.

"Oh, fuckberries!" Bogdan cried out.

"Now Beelzeus, attack Burei!" The two serpentine heads bit Burei on both sides and dragged it towards the torso mouth, which chewed it in half. "Beelzeus has 4000 attack points, but you get only half as battle damage if Beelzeus activates its effect before attacking. You're down to 5100 life points. I end my turn." His opponent passed, grinning with a malicious smile.

"My turn." Bogdan drew the card and looked at it. _Still nothing. I can't take down that atrocity with what I have in mind. 4000 attack is way too much, and it can't be destroyed. With Unknown Synchron and Cyber Dragon in hand I have no chance of defeating it, since the only level six synchro I have is Goyo Guardian. How could I've forgotten to adjust my deck back to normal after the three-to-one duel, son of a Ben and Jerry! The fuck am I supposed to do with Hope for Escape. He has lower life points than me, I need him to have… more… of course! It's a long shot, but I have no other choice._ "I special summon Cyber Dragon in defense mode because only you control a monster. I end my turn." He looked at Bruno who was sweating rivers, then at Mauro, who had a barely visible smile on his face.

"Getting desperate are we? It makes you misplay, because you left Cyber Dragon for Beelzeus to feed on. I activate Beelzeus' effect to turn Cyber Dragon's attack points to 0, and that brings me up to 5700 life points. Now that Beelzeus has done its job, time to replace it with a more useful monster. I activate my spell card Synchro Change! I Banish Beelzeus to special summon a synchro monster from my extra deck with an equal level as the banished monster, but its effects will be negated, which I don't care about as I'll only have to overpower you, something I couldn't do with Beelzeus' restrictions. I choose Dragocytos Corrupted Nethersoul Dragon!" Yet another fiendish serpentine dragon appeared on the field. It flapped its leathery wings to pull itself upwards, then bellowed with a powerful roar. "Dragocytos, attack Cyber Dragon!" Dragocytos flapped its wings again to give a boost to its jump, clumped its hands together by interlocking its fingers in a combined fist above its head, and then crashed over the curled-up Cyber Dragon, demolishing it. Then it slithered back to its place beside the goon. "I end my turn." _Damn, he took away the life point-regenerating monster, and now he's free to attack with more than one monster too. That could be a problem._ Bogdan thought as he draw the card. _Meklord Emperor Skiel. Thanks, asshole, where were you when I needed you before, now I can't even summon you._ "I set a monster and a backrow card. I end my turn with this."

"Bluffs won't do you any good. I summon Dekoichi in attack position. Then I attack your set monster with it." Unknown Synchron appeared for an instant before being hit by the speeding locomotive. "You really are reaching for straws, setting wieners in hope of drawing something good! Ha! But that will never happen!"

"Talk is cheap, dickbag." Bogdan was unfazed.

"Then how about this? Dragocytos, attack him directly!" Again Dragocytos curled up like a spring, then jumped up with the help of its wings, hands above its head in an interlocked fist. It crashed over Bogdan, creating a shockwave of dust, then retreated to its post on the other side of the field. "You're down to 1100 life points. Go on, make your last move." The mobster taunted him.

"Thank you for bringing me down, and yourself up, to the desired life point difference. You made a trap card that was dead ever since the first turn live again. But first, I activate Upstart Goblin to draw another card. Here, have 1000 more life points." _Malefic Cyber End Dragon. At least Skiel is live now, if nothing else works._ "Now since you're up to 6700 life points, I activate my trap card Hope for Escape! I pay 1000 life points, bringing myself down to a measly 100, then I can draw a card for every 2000 life point difference between you and me. That's three cards." Bogdan drew a deep breath, exhaled, then drew the first card. Machina Fortress. Useless at this point. He drew the second card. Electromagnetic Turtle. Well, if all else fails he could dump Turtle in the grave with Fortress to summon it in defense, and Turtle would be able to protect him for a turn. Now he had hope for surviving. He drew the last card. His eyes widened, and he burst into a laugh. Bruno threw his glass of liker backwards in happiness. He had no idea how could Bogdan pull it off, but he know that laugh all too well. Bogdan's opponent was visibly dumbstruck. "Time to end this charade. You've made an abomination of my deck and that will not go unpunished. Witness the one true power! By banishing the original Cyber End Dragon, I can special summon its Dark-attributed counterpart, Malefic Cyber End Dragon!" The gigantic machine appeared with a shriek, then exploded instantly.

"Are you mad?! Malefic monsters can't survive without a field spell card!" The mobster yelled.

"I know what I'm doing. Since a monster I control was destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon Meklord Emperor Skiel from my hand. Skiel, absorb Dragocytos!"

"No!" The goon cried out. Wires made out of pure energy came out of the insectoid robot and weaved themselves around Dragocytos' arms, wings, neck and torso, dragging him all the way over to Skiel, until it disintegrated and was absorbed by it.

"Now I discard both Machina Fortress and Electromagnetic Turtle to special summon Machina Fortress from the graveyard. I'd like to attack you right now for the win, but Skiel prevents other monsters from attacking, so if I want to finish this now, I have to go for overkill. I activate my spell card Overload Fusion! As long as I have a Cyber Dragon in either my field or graveyard, I can banish every machine in both my field and graveyard and fusion summon Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, which gains 800 attack points for each machine I use."

"What?!"

"I banish Genex Neutron, Gearframe, Megaform, Dekoichi, Cyber Dragon, Black Salvo, Burei, Unknown Synchron, Malefic Cyber End, Electromagnetic Turtle, three Machina Fortresses and Skiel for a total of 11200 attack points!" As Bogdan took the cards and inserted them in the "banished" slot of his duel disk, Chimeratech Overdragon appeared on the field, fourteen heads sprouting out of its body like a mechanized hydra. "Copy this! Chimeratech, attack Dekoichi and end this!" Bogdan gave the command and all fourteen heads simultaneously fired a beam of energy directed at both Dekoichi and the mobster. The subsequent explosion created a mushroom cloud and a shockwave so strong it blew everybody in the audience off their feet, despite it being only a holographic rendition of the battle. As the smoke cleared, Bogdan could see Bruno and Luca stuffing all the cash he won in duffle bags. He looked at the thug, who was still standing there, wondering what went wrong. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Someone should've told you not to fuck with me."

"Show's over, Bogdan, We have to scram before the police show up. The sound and visual of that explosion is sure to attract attention." Bruno bellowed, as Luca pulled Bogdan up by one hand like a sack of potatoes out of the pool. Everybody was huddling to the exit, pushing each other in a race to get out first. Luca hopped in the driver's seat as they reached their card, while Bruno and Bogdan went in the back.

"You never cease to amaze me, you little prodigy." Bruno grinned as he opened one of the duffle bags to look at the money.

"What can I say, I'm the best there is at what I do."


	11. Chapter 11

"So, how long do you intend to stay at home?" Bruno was trying to make small talk while driving. He offered to take Bogdan to the airport himself, no limo, no hired drivers. It felt good getting out and behaving like a normal person for a change.

"I don't know, about a month, maybe less. I'm going to enjoy not doing shit the whole day, but as soon as I get bored, and I will, I'll fly back right away." Bogdan said, looking out the window.

"Any good duelists you know there?"

"Nah, people there aren't that rich to afford spending money on shiny cardboard. I learned the game playing a computer version of it, then with counterfeits with bad English and wrong color-coding. There are simply no conditions for a player base." Bogdan explained.

"You remember Mauro right?" Bruno changed the subject.

"The guy that looks like a vulture? What about him?" Bogdan asked.

"I suspect he's trying to rig the whole dueling thing against us, ever since he saw you beat your first opponent with the double /Assault Mode combo. You remember how you said they tailor their decks to counter yours, right? Well I think they're all backed by him, you know. He's been having trouble finding duelists willing to go against you, and the other mobsters have been gradually stopping from placing bets against you, or participating altogether. Many of them just come for the show without risking their money." Bruno droned on about some plan of his to team-up with Mauro and expand beyond Italy, having heard of other countries' criminal undergrounds hosting duels. Bogdan tuned him out, instead, remembering his first and only meeting with the task force inside DIGOS, organized just for arresting Bruno and dismantling the whole pit duel scheme, to discuss operation "Take Down". While he was in Romania, the task force would arrest Bruno and make him give up everyone else involved, resulting in the biggest mafia-related arrest since Toto' Riina. This way Bruno should never suspect him because all this would happen while he's on vacation. Luca would be arrested, put to trial and convicted. Once inside the system, a new identity would be issued for him and he'd be sent to live somewhere in rural Sardinia. The police public relations officials would then report news that he's been sent to a maximum security prison in central Italy and order the warden of that chosen prison to file fake forms regarding Luca's imprisonment, then periodically file reports about him being in constant isolation due to prison violence, in case someone inquires. It was the perfect plan. Bogdan laughed so much when he heard the title of the operation.

"Well, I have to admit it's a tad more original than "Desert Storm" for example. But just a tad. It's still so cheesy I regret not bringing macaroni. But seriously, who's the idiot with no fantasy that came up with this name?"

"I am." Ilena said.

"On second thought it kinda fits. Yeah, like, you take Bruno and his whole organization down, and it's only logical the operation would be named like that." Bogdan was ashamed of himself. Me and my big mouth.

"I'm just kidding, idiot, it was someone on the taskforce during the brainstorm." Ilena laughed at his reddened face.

"Sounds more like a brain fart to me. Italians really have no fantasy when naming stuff. I mean, almost all of Veneto's towns use variations of three names. Milano, Mirano, Mira, Murano, Merano, and my personal favorite, adding the prefix Gian to names like Luca, Marco, Pietro, Carlo and turning them into different names. How is one supposed to invent a nickname? Do I call all of them simply Gian? Or do I throw the prefix away and call them by the initial name?" Bogdan ranted, making Ilena tear up from laughter.

"Can you two please focus on the matter at hand? And be a little more serious, while you're at it?" Ilena's uncle Raffaele scolded them.

"Ok, ok, who crapped in your cornflakes?"

"Watch it, kid, I can arrest you right here and now, I have enough material on you to do it too."

"Whoa, no need to bust out the big guns, dude! Chill." Again, me and my big mouth. He thought.

_

Meanwhile, in Rome, the final preparations were made for operation Take Down. Ilena had to meet with Luca to discuss some final information he had on Bruno, then send them to Rome for her uncle. That's what he had told her anyway. When she arrived at the meeting place, an abandoned warehouse, he was standing there with a duel disk strapped on his left hand, smoking a cigarette. As soon as she saw him, she understood his intention, but not the motive behind it. She never left her house without her duel disk, a smaller, expandable version that looked like one of those multi-layer boxes for make-up when deactivated, obviously meant for women because it was made to fit in a woman's purse without occupying much space, so she was always ready for a duel. She pressed a button on the side of it and placed it on her hand after it activated and opened up to take the shape of a normal duel disk.

"You are Bogdan's friend? Interesting. If I'm not mistaken, you're the second most powerful duelist in Italy, right?" Luca asked her.

"That's right." Ilena responded.

"Let me guess, you have a machine deck." Luca said.

"I had one until a little while ago. Bogdan inspired me to build another type of deck."

"That's cute. He said the same thing when he play-tested with me his new machine deck, that he was inspired by a dear friend to create that deck."

"Bogdan has a machine deck? And it's inspired by me?" She blushed. It filled her with warmth to know that he had been thinking of her.

"Yes. And it's a beast of a deck as well, capable of summoning multiple high-powered machines in an instant, to synchro summon monsters out of nowhere, and even fusion summon several boss monsters. I also heard that he acquired two legendary machine cards after our duel."

"I see. What archetype of machines is he using?"

"A bit of Machina, a bit of Ancient Gear, a bit of Genex, the Dekoichi-Salvo engine, a few non-machine monsters that help out the general strategy along with some bosses, stuff like that. It looks like a mish-mash, but it works surprisingly well, and packs quite a punch."

"Heh. That's so like him. He can't confine his strategy in a single archetype. That boy is able to think outside the box in such a manner that he's able to create strategies and combos nobody would ever think of. He won the national tournament with a deck full of commons and rares."

"I watched it on TV. Building your deck from scratch instead of simply taking a premade archetype and auto-piloting the deck creates a special bond between a duelist and their deck. The Japanese have an expression for it: Jinba Ittai, a rider and his horse as one. Anyway, I called you here to test your strength." Luca emphasized the "your" word.

"Why should my strength be tested? You recognized me as the second most powerful duelist in Italy, according to the tournament."

"The tournament rankings don't mean diddly-squat in the underground. That community is on a whole different level than the children you're used to dueling, and I'm here to make sure you or anyone else from the outside doesn't fuck Bogdan's plan up."

"Okay then, let's start our duel."

"I'll flip a coin." Luca reached in his pocket, pulled out a coin and launched it with his thumb in the air. When it fell back down he caught it and placed the hand with the coin on top of his other hand. Ilena approached him to see the result of the coin toss.

"I pick heads." She said. Luca slowly removed his hand to reveal that the coin had landed on the tails side.

"This means I get to go first." He smiled as he drew six cards.

"That's right." Ilena stepped back several meters and drew five cards.

"I set a monster and a card. That concludes my opening move." Luca said as he placed the cards on his duel disk.

"I summon Telekinetic Shocker, set a card and end my turn."

"Psychics, huh? A most interesting monster type, although a little underdeveloped because it is fairly new. This is going to be fun. I tribute my set Goblin Zombie to normal summon Vampire Dragon. When Goblin Zombie leaves the field and goes to the graveyard I can search my deck for another zombie monster with 1200 defense or less, and add it to my hand. So I pick Zombie Master which has zero defense. Now, Vampire Dragon, attack Telekinetic Shocker!" The snakelike zombie launched itself with open mouth, revealing four long and sharp fangs, and bit the humanoid monster. Ilena pressed a button and the set trap card opened.

"I activate my set trap card Telepathic Power which, when a psychic monster is destroyed by battle, lets me destroy the attacking monster and gives me life points equal to its attack. That puts me to a whopping 10 400 life points minus the 700 Vampire Dragon inflicted as battle damage equals 9700."

"Thank you for that. When Vampire Dragon is sent from the field to the graveyard after being tribute summoned, I can search my deck for another level four or lower zombie monster and add it to my hand. I choose the level two Plaguespreader Zombie, and that concludes the turn." Said Luca as he returned the rest of his deck to the appropriate slot in the duel disk. Ilena drew a card, looked at it and put it in her hand with the other cards. Then she observed the state of the duel. He has a full hand, but only one set back row card and an otherwise empty field. Is he that confident the card can defend him from me? She thought as she picked a card from her hand and put it in a slot of her duel disk.

"I activate my spell card Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your set card." The card revealed itself just before exploding in the tornado caused by her spell card, and Ilena recognized the artwork of Mirror Force. "Heh, nice try, but an empty field with only one set card is an equivalent to shouting Look, I set a trap card that will prevent you from summoning or attacking!. Anyway, now that the coast is clear, I special summon Serene Psychic Witch and attack you directly. You lose 1400 life points and are reduced to 6600 life points. Your move."

"'Tis but a scratch. Now I summon Zombie Master and activate its effect which lets me discard Plaguespreader Zombie to special summon a level four or lower monster from the graveyard, and I summon Goblin Zombie. Now I return a card from my hand back to the top of my deck to special summon Plaguespreader Zombie from the graveyard. At this point I tune the level two Plaguespreader Zombie and the level four Goblin Zombie to synchro summon Doomkaiser Dragon!" The giant dragon appeared and spread its wings in a loud roar. Ilena noticed that it was in an advanced level of decomposition, parts of its skeleton could be seen under its rotting flesh, and there was a hole in its chest which exposed its glowing heart. "When Plaguespreader Zombie leaves the field after special summoning itself, instead of ending up to the graveyard, it banishes itself. And like before, I get to search for a zombie with 1200 defense or less from my deck and add it to my hand because Goblin Zombie went from the field to the graveyard, so I choose Mezuki with 800 defense. Doomkaiser Dragon, attack Serene Psychic Witch!" The undead dragon breathed bluish fire from its mouth and incinerated the female monster.

"When Serene Psychic Witch is destroyed I can banish another psychic monster with 2000 or less attack from the deck and I choose Esper Girl with 500 attack. After banishing it like this, during my standby phase it will be special summoned to my field."

"But you are wide open for a direct attack. Zombie Master, attack her directly! You lose a total of 2800 life points from both attacks and are reduced to 6900 life points. I set two cards and end my turn."

_

"Duck!" Bruno screamed, slamming the brakes, which startled Bogdan out of his daydream.

"What? Where's the duck?" The bullets started hammering the hood and windshield, spraying small shards of glass all over them. Bruno was already leaning over the handbrake in an attempt to find cover, while still trying to maintain control of the vehicle. Bogdan raised his head just above the glove compartment to see what was actually going on. He managed to catch a glimpse of a barrier made of three cars blocking Venti Settembre Street, not too far away from where he and Ilena had their first duel, as Bruno maneuvered the car in reverse, trying to avoid the other cars and pedestrians who were also frantically trying to navigate through the chaos in an attempt to escape the assailants. They were now getting inside the cars, intent on pursuing Bogdan and Bruno to finish the job. Bruno swerved the car violently while simultaneously shifting to first gear, then stomped on the gas pedal.

"Do you know who they are?" Bogdan yelled from below the glove compartment, scared shitless. He just now understood what it really meant being associated with the mafia. Bruno opened the glove compartment, pulling a gun from it, then gave it to Bogdan.

"Not now! Go on the back seat and tell me where they are!" Bruno commanded. Bogdan lowered the back rest of the passenger seat, then climbed over to the back seat and looked outside the rear windshield.

"They're driving cabriolets. There's this one dude that-oh shit!" He ducked, and after a split second the rear windshield exploded, covering him with glass shards. Bruno tried a zig-zag maneuver in an attempt to dodge the hail of bullets sprayed from the assault rifle one of the pursuers was firing.

_

"At the beginning of my turn Esper Girl is special summoned from the banish zone and this activates her effect. I can banish the top card from my deck while keeping it facedown, and when Esper Girl leaves the field I can add this card to my hand. Now I normal summon Psi-Beast and banish Telekinetic Shocker so that its level becomes the level of Telekinetic Shocker, namely level four. At this point I activate Emergency Teleport and special summon Hushed Psychic Cleric from my deck. Then I activate the spell card Foolish Burial and send Psychic Snail from my deck to the graveyard. Now that it's there, I discard Master Gig to banish Psychic Snail with Cleric's effect, and when Hushed Psychic Cleric is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can special summon it from the banish zone on the field. Prepare yourself, as I tune the level four Psi-Wolf, level three Hushed Psychic Cleric and level two tuner Esper Girl to synchro summon the level nine Overmind Archfiend!" The gigantic white and green monster roared as it appeared on the field. Luca whistled in amazement and laughed.

"Getting serious, are we? Good! Bring it all out!" He yelled in excitement. Ilena didn't like that laugh. To her that laugh meant he wasn't worried. And if he wasn't worried, it meant he had it all under control. She didn't know how come, but she wasn't going to let him show it to her. She had to end it fast.

"But that's not all. Now that Esper Girl and Hushed Psychic Cleric have left the field, each activates its effect and I get to summon the banished Psychic Snail and add the facedown card in my hand. I now activate Overmind Archfiend's effect to banish Esper Girl, which in turn lets me activate the spell card Esper Girl added to my hand, Psychic Feel Zone. This spell card lets me return to the graveyard two banished monsters, a tuner and a non-tuner, so I choose Esper Girl and Telekinetic Shocker, and after that is done I can special summon a psychic synchro monster with a level equal to the sum of the two monster's levels, and I choose and special summon Psychic Nightmare!" Another devilish monster appeared beside Overmind Archfiend.

"Hoho! A double synchro summoning! I like where this is going!" Luca laughed again. This ticked Ilena off. How can he laugh when two psychic synchros are staring down at him? Just you wait, I'll wipe that laugh right off your face. She thought.

"I activate Psychic Nightmare's effect. It lets me choose randomly a card in your hand and declare its type; monster, spell or trap. If I get it right, Psychic Nightmare will get 1000 more attack points and go up to 3400 attack points. So I choose the middle card and declare monster!" She pointed at him as she yelled the word "monster". Luca took the card and turned it for her to see it. It was Mezuki. She smiled, and Psychic Nightmare bellowed an ear-piercing screech as it gained power.

"I followed the movements of that card in your hand ever since you added it with Goblin Zombie's effect, so this effect wasn't exactly a gamble for me."

"You're even better than I thought. With each card you play, you surprise me anew." Luca was impressed.

"Thank you, you should see what happens against a Gadget deck." She chuckled.

"I can imagine."

"And lastly, to complete my combo, I activate Psychic Snail's effect. I pay 800 life points, which puts me at 6100 life points, to let another psychic monster attack twice this turn, but Psychic Snail cannot attack, and I choose Psychic Nightmare. Now, Psychic Nightmare, attack Doomkaiser Dragon!" The blue devil charged a green electric ball in its hands and launched it at the undead dragon, which blew up upon impact. Luca's life points went down by 1000.

"Psychic Nightmare, attack Zombie Master! There go another 1600 life points. Now, Overmind Archfiend, attack him directly!" Now it was the white devil that charged the electric ball and launched it directly at Luca, who covered his face with his hands in an attempt to defend himself.

"The combined damage lowers you from 6600 life points to just 700. I end my turn."

_

"Give me some cover!" Bruno bellowed. Bogdan took the gun, aimed, and squeezed off a shot. Miss. Damn it! Another shot. Hood of the car. A little to the right and up, where the driver is. Steady now. He inhaled deeply then stopped breathing, holding the air in. The third shot didn't hit the driver, instead it whizzed by his left ear. The glass from the pierced windshield that flow in his face was what blinded him momentarily, making him lose control of the car, swerving left and right. The shooter above threw away the rifle and was now holding on with both hands in an attempt to enter the inside of the car. But he never made it, as the car smashed in another car, and he flew out, hit the asphalt face-first, and rolled for a few meters.

"That'll leave a mark." Bogdan made a pained expression as he watched. Then he aimed at the second car and fired, but missed all remaining shots. Bruno pulled a cell phone and dialed a number. "I'm out of ammo!" Bogdan yelled.

"Drop whatever you're doing, I'm being chased and shot at! I'm on the Capolinea in the Sampierdarena District, going towards the Voltri District, where the fuck are you? Ok, but be quick!" Bruno hung up.

_

"One of the most devastating combos I've ever seen in my dueling career. You truly are an exceptional duelist. But I'm afraid you just wasted your chance of winning. This duel is over."

"What? How?" Ilena was shocked.

"Watch. I activate my spell card Book of Life and special summon the just destroyed Doomkaiser Dragon and banish Telekinetic Shocker. Now I activate the set quick-play spell card Burial from the Different Dimension and return Plaguespreader Zombie from the banish zone back to the graveyard. Now I activate my second set card Assault Mode Activate and tribute Doomkaiser Dragon to special summon Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode from my deck!" Doomkaiser Dragon covered its beating heart with a chest armor shaped like a skull face. "And after I summon it, I activate Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode's effect to special summon a bunch of zombie monsters from either player's graveyard, but their effects will be negated and they'll be destroyed at the end of my turn. But that's not important. I summon the tributed Doomkaiser Dragon, Vampire Dragon, Goblin Zombie and Plaguespreader Zombie. Now I tune Plaguespreader and Goblin Zombie to synchro summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! Since Goblin Zombie's effect activates from the graveyard, meaning the effect negation was irrelevant, I can search my deck for another zombie with 1200 defense or less, and I choose another Zombie Master. Now I activate the effect of Brionac and discard three cards to return to your hand all three monsters you control and clear my way for a direct attack. But first, I activate the effect of the discarded Mezuki to banish him from the graveyard so I can special summon another zombie from the graveyard, and I choose Plaguspreader again. I tune Plaguespreader to Doomkaliber Dragon to synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend. And lastly, I put back this card to the top of the deck to special summon Plaguespreader Zombie from the graveyard for one last time, after this time it will banish itself upon leaving the field instead of going to the graveyard. But that doesn't matter because this is the last turn. I tune Plaguespreader Zombie to the level five Vampire Dragon and synchro summon Scrap Archfiend." Ilena just watched in awe as one after another the synchro monsters popped up on the field, first the undead dragon again, then a dragon made completely out of ice, then a monster she knew well from Bogdan's duels, the demonic red dragon, and lastly, a fiend made of rusty metal. As Luca gave the command, all five behemoths attacked her directly. She covered her face with her hand in an instinctive attempt at defending when the explosion took place. When all the dust and smoke cleared, she saw Luca talking on his cell phone.

"What?! Where are you right now? I'm in the Voltri District now, keep driving in this direction, I'll meet you half way." Then he hung up. Ilena could see he was shaken up.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Gotta go, Bogdan is in trouble. You'll hear from me soon." Luca said as he put on his helmet. Ilena saw a green Kawasaki Ninja bike parked between two cars.

"He's what? Where?" But Luca didn't respond. He pulled the bike out from between the cars with a violent yank, hopped on and rode off, leaving Ilena alone on the parking lot.

_

"I'm still out of ammo!" Bogdan shouted at Bruno. He pulled another clip from the glove compartment and passed it to Bogdan.

"Last clip! Twelve shots! Make them count!" Bogdan pressed the little button on the side of the gun, and the empty clip popped out. He pushed in the new one, and the chamber slid back into place, welcoming the bullet inside it. As he propped himself on the back rest of the seat, arms stretched out, holding the gun with both hands, and aimed, Bruno veered to the right, narrowly dodging a cyclist. This sudden movement made Bogdan lose balance and drop the gun, which slid down the cover of the trunk and rolled on the street. Bogdan simply watched gun disappear in the distance, petrified.

"Are you going to shoot him or mail him the bullets?" Bruno bellowed.

"I lost the gun!"

"You what?!" Bruno almost broke his neck turning to face bogdan in the back seat.

"You swerved the car and made me lose the gun!"

"Oh so now it's my fault?! Fucking amateurs, man!" Bruno was punching the steering wheel in anger. Bogdan turned around and saw another one of the pursuers come out of the ceiling window of the car. "Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He cried.

"What? What's going on?" Bruno inquired, then look at the rear view mirror and saw the same thing. "He's got a god damn bazooka!" The assailant propped himself steady, and aimed the bazooka at the fleeing car in front of him.

"He what?!"

"Brace for impact!" Bogdan jumped from the back seat and slid in the space between the seats made for feet. Then Bruno saw it, a green dot on the street in front of him, rapidly growing as he approached them. He moved in between two cars, trying to give himself some cover and to buy time for Luca to reach them. The pursuers moved on the lane for the opposite direction in an attempt to get a clean lateral shot. Just as the assailant aimed at Bruno's car and pulled the trigger, Luca drove past him and sprayed a burst of bullets from an Uzi in his left hand, hitting him in the chest. The missile shot past the car, then curved upwards, hitting the wall of a building in a devastating explosion that crumbled the whole side of it. Luca drifted in a U-turn with the help of the brakes on the bike and a screen of smoke from the overheating tires, then accelerated and, as he approached the right side of the car, fired another burst at the passenger window, shredding the driver inside. The pursuing car veered to the left and, breaking through the guardrail, fell off the side of the road, down the cliff and into the sea. Luca slid the Uzi in his jacket and signaled Bruno to follow him.

_

"This is Mauro's doing! I'm sure of it. Only he has to gain from having me eliminated!" Bruno was beside himself with rage. His screams echoed throughout the office halls in shockwaves of anger.

"Settle down before you soil yourself. It's over and we survived to fight another day." Bogdan tried to calm him down.

"Don't you fucking tell me to calm down, you little shit! You lost the damn gun in the middle of a fucking shooting! How much of an amateur are you?!" Bruno shook his finger at Bogdan, who gulped in fear and took a step back.

"Lay off him, boss, he fared pretty well considering it's his first time." Luca positioned himself between them, gently but firmly pushing Bruno back in his armchair.

"How do you know?" Bogdan asked.

"You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Oh."

"God, I'm angry! Like a bad cliché, moustache-twirling, rope-a-country-gal-to-the-train-tracks-kind of angry. You're not leaving my sight until this matter is settled. Only after I've personally made more holes in Mauro than an alibi in Murder She Wrote can you go on your vacation." Bruno growled.

"Fuck that! You have a big target painted on your back, not me. The further away I am from you, the better my chances of survival are. I'm leaving tomorrow." Bogdan responded firmly.

"I'll take him to the airport tomorrow myself. He'll be safe. You, on the other hand, will spend the night here, under heavy security." Luca came up with a solution.

"I'll invite Mauro here under a false pretense, and execute him myself. This will not stand, and I will have my revenge!" 


	12. Chapter 12

"Can you explain to me again why am I not supposed to be a part of my own plan?" Bogdan disapproved. They were in the city of Milan. Bogdan had a plane to catch, departing from the Malpensa Airport, that would fly him to the capital of his country, Bucharest, and Luca offered to give him a ride himself, under pretense of ensuring his safety until departure after the latest incident.

"It's for your own good. I went to a great deal of trouble convincing Bruno it's for the best to remove you from this mafia chessboard, claiming you are of no use to him if it's not dueling. Now you go on that plane and stay in Romania until I or Ilena let you know the matter is resolved, ok?" Luca shook a finger in Bogdan's face.

"Fine, whatever. Keep me posted." Bogdan went to the trunk of the car Bruno drove him in and pulled a suitcase and a laptop bag.

"Obviously. I'll personally make sure your plan goes without a hitch." Luca said in a serious tone as he entered the car. This calmed Bogdan. Luca was a thug, but he always kept his promises. He waved him off and went inside the terminal.

_

"Well, well, well. Mister Lomellini. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" Mauro responded on the other side of the line. Bruno had him on speaker so that Luca and a few of Bruno's "family" would listen in on the conversation, and prepare accordingly.

"I have a proposition for you about joining forces and expanding our little dueling scheme beyond Italy." Bruno started his pitch.

"And why should I join with the likes of you, exactly? Last time I checked, I own the whole show. You are not proposing a merger, you just want a piece of the cake! So humor me, Bruno. Why do I let you in on my show?" Mauro asked with a cynical tone in his voice. Even through a phone line, everyone picked up on his sarcasm. To Luca the question almost sounded rhetorical.

"The reason is very simple. You need Bogdan, and I own him. Your show is already circling the drain, because of three things. One, nobody would pit their own guy against Bogdan for fear of losing money. Two, nobody of the spectators wants to bet money against Bogdan for the same reason. I mean look at what lengths you had to go through with that three-to-one duel just to make people come and spend their money. That's a desperate man's act. And we still won. This leads me to my third point, nobody wants to watch other duelists after that sort of spectacle. I mean let's face it, you can't top that duel." Bruno stopped a bit to let what he said sink in. Mauro just snorted in anger. Bruno smiled, looking at Luca, and continued. "So you tried to have me and Bogdan killed, but failed in that, too. On a side note, when I find out who tipped you off about my movement, I will skullfuck them myself. But you see, I keep my friends close, and my enemies even closer, so what I'm offering you instead of an all-out gang war, is Bogdan, with me as the middle man, and a joined funding to expand abroad. I've already done some research and found out that in Russia and the Balkans there already is a developed underground dueling scene. All we need is to reach them and organize a few gigs, then Bogdan steps in, destroys anyone they throw at him, and we'll be swimming in cash. And let me conclude this by pointing out that you have no other choice. Your whole empire is based on the duels. You refuse me now, and you'll be dead within a month."

"…That actually sounds very interesting, and would solve many issues pertaining my show." Mauro caved in. Bruno grinned maliciously.

"Excellent. When would be most convenient for you to come to my office and discuss the details of this operation?"

"This time next week would be good for me, I want to check upon some of my contacts abroad, explore their market a little to see if what these countries have is worth our time and resources."

"Alright then, see you in a week." The line interrupted as Mauro hung up on his side. Bruno started rubbing his hands greedily. "And now, we wait."

_

"Be advised, secondary target is inbound." Raffaele spoke in his walkie-talkie. There were four vans, marked with logos and slogans from various companies, chock-full of SWAT officers ready to storm the building given the green light. Raffaele was watching from the passenger seat in one of them as Mauro and his men got out of a limousine parked in front of the building entrance. "Lock and load, everyone, we're a go in T-minus five."

_

"Mauro, bay-bee! Long time no extort! How've you been? Still beating the wife?" Bruno welcomed Mauro and his men with a big grin on his face. "Oh, I see you brought your son too. Hey, kid, welcome to the grown-up table." Mauro didn't exactly share that sentiment, and simply shook Bruno's hand with a silent nod. "Oh, right. You don't like small talk."

"Small talk's for small people, Bruno. You and me, we're not small people." Mauro responded.

"Right then, on to business." Bruno looked at one of his men as he sat down behind his desk, Mauro on the other side with two men standing beside him, two more by the door.

_

"Let's do this, people. Alpha team, they're on the twentieth floor, your task is to arrest the secondary target, use live ammo only in case of retaliation; we need them alive. Bravo team, secure the lobby and wait by the maintenance elevator, that's where the main target will be led to by our guy inside. Charlie team, sweep the building floor by floor and evacuate anyone in there up to the nineteenth floor. The Carabinieri and local police are securing a perimeter and will arrest anyone going in or out of the building. I don't want heroes, I don't want itchy trigger fingers. We do this by the book, we'll all be home by dinner time. We're live, people! Go, go, go!" Three of the vans burst open and the SWAT teams charged out to carry out their assignments. Ilena and Alberto were standing on the sidewalk, accompanied by a policeman as others pulled out the yellow tape to cordon off the area. Alberto insisted of being there. He wanted to watch the events live as they unfolded.

_

"I've briefly explained on the phone what I wanted to talk to you about. But that's not exactly true." Said Bruno. Mauro raised an eyebrow.

"Explain yourself, Bruno, what is the point in this meeting if not a merger?"

"Simple. I would never become partners with someone that tried to kill me and my golden hen." Bruno's goons raised their weapons before Mauro and his men had time to react. "The point of this meeting is your execution." Bruno laid back in his armchair, the fingertips on each hand touching. Mauro was beside himself with anger.

"You dare point a gun at me? Do you know who you're speaking to? Who you're pointing a gun at? I will destroy you, Bruno! I have connections all the way to Naples and Sicily. Your insolence will not go unpunished! Your actions today will result in a nation-wide gang war!" He slammed his fist on Bruno's desk, which did nothing to faze Bruno. Until they heard gunshots out in the hallways. Bruno pointed to one henchman by the door.

"You, go see what's going on outside. Do not engage anyone, just take a look and report straight back." The henchman went out, and came back after about ten seconds.

"It's the police, Capo, they've infiltrated the building. Some of our men are holding them back near the elevator. We have to get out of here!"

"I knew this day would come sooner or later. Would've preferred later, but hey, what can you do, right? Initiate scenario fourteen." Bruno kept his cool.

"T-the charges?!"

"Yes, moron, the charges. As you'll see in a bit, Mauro, not even the police will be able to touch me, much less you and your feeble attempts at assassination. I'm going to leave you here for the police, use the charges as a distraction to keep the pigs occupied and out of my hair while I make my escape, and then blow the whole building up with you and those DIGOS bastards along with it." Bruno explained with a smirk as he took a duel disk from a nearby shelf, then opened a door leading to the maintenance part of the floor, his men following him with guns pointed at Mauro and his men. Shit, I didn't know about any bombs. Some mole I am. Building's full of police, and all those lives will be on me, and I can kiss my freedom goodbye, Luca thought, angry with himself for making a blunder of this magnitude.

"Father, what do we do?" One of the men asked Mauro, his voice trembling with fear.

"First, we have to move out of here. If we stay in this office we're as good as dead. Even being arrested by DIGOS is better at this point, at least we'll still be alive. Everybody drop their socks and grab their Glocks, we have to get out of here." Mauro went to the main office door, opened it slightly to see what was going on outside, then went out, his son and men following suit.

"Police, freeze!" At a T-intersection in the hallways one officer from Alpha team cried out, his assault rifle pointed at them. Mauro's son was the first to raise his gun, much to the protests of his father who was about to surrender, and subsequently the first to be shot.

"You pigs, I'll kill you all!" Mauro and his men returned fire, but were quickly outgunned as two more men were mowed down. Mauro and his last man barged through an open door to their left into a room full of cubicles, then through another door on the far side back in the corridors, while his son dragged himself into the smaller corridor branching off the main one, and propped himself on the wall. Three men of the Alpha team went after Mauro, but were forced to take cover as Mauro's man, armed with an Uzi, provided cover fire until they reached the fire escape stairwell.

"Be advised, Bravo team, target has reached the fire escape and is moving towards your position." An Alpha team member reported.

"Is the main target still on the floor?" Raffaele, standing above the spread blueprints of the building inquired through his walkie-talkie.

"Negative. His office is empty, they went through the maintenance section."

"Excellent, Charlie team, as soon as you've finished sweeping the last floors, take an elevator and replace Bravo team. Bravo team, you're reassigned to the building interior, take the bottom of the stairwell and work your way up, corner the secondary target together with Alpha team on the stair well." Raffaele barked the commands. His initial plan of ending the whole operation on the twentieth floor failed, so he had to improvise according to the development.

_

"Ground floor, boss?" Luca asked as the elevator door closed behind them.

"Are you stupid? Obviously they're waiting for me in the lobby. We're going to the sixteenth floor. More men are waiting for me there with a zip line ready to take me to the adjacent building's roof which is only ten floors. The distance between here and there along with the difference in floors creates the perfect angle for the zip line. And the police will be far too busy with the explosions to notice us." Bruno grinned, obviously proud of his genius plan. Luca had to admit, it was a good plan. Except he never thought he'd be betrayed. What happened next took only two seconds. Luca pressed the button, then immediately took Bruno's gun from the right side of his waist, while simultaneously, with his left elbow placed on Bruno's neck, forced him to the front of the elevator with a swift spin to the back, his left arm finishing across Bruno's body with his head under Luca's armpit. The two goons never fully understood what happened to them when they both took a shot to the head, effectively rendering Bruno, who was being used as a human shield, obsolete. He then grabbed him by the throat and slid him upwards on the elevator wall until Bruno's feet were dangling in the air, and pressed the emergency stop button.

"You have two choices. One: you give me the detonator and I put you to sleep with one punch. Two: I beat you until you end up like Stephen Hawking and take it myself." He let go of Bruno's throat, causing Bruno to fall on the floor, coughing.

"It's useless, the bombs are on a timer, and the only way to disarm them is for this here duel disk to lose in a duel."

"You think you can beat me? Have you ever dueled in your life? Plus, what's stopping me from simply shooting you in the face and duel myself like that old man in the Pixar chess short?"

"Only the fact that you need me alive if the police are to give you your freedom back. I'm guessing that's the whole point of what's happening here, right?" He nailed it. Luca just grunted.

"Excellent work, Sherlock. Kinda late, though. You're through."

"Maybe so, but I'll drag you down with me, you can't defeat me in a duel." Bruno boasted. Luka just gave him a long look, then unblocked the elevator. They arrived on the sixteenth floor, and Luca pushed Bruno out, gun pointed at all times at his spinal cord. When they entered in the cafeteria they found Alberto locked in a duel with one of Bruno's men, with a SWAT officer from Alpha team holding the goon at gunpoint.

"What the fuck is going on here?" All five of them exclaimed simultaneously.

_

Thirteen minutes before, the fourth member of Alpha team quickly combed the floor, shouting "Clear!" as he checked every room of the floor, then came back to check on the wounded young man sitting in a puddle of his own blood. He kicked his gun out of his reach, and called it in through a radio on his shoulder.

"Enrico from Alpha team reporting, floor is clear. Requesting med-evac for one of the hostiles, over."

"Wait…" Mauro's son reached the SWAT officer's pants and, with a weak tug, attracted his attention, to which the officer jumped back, gun pointed at him. This seemingly drained the wounded mobster's strength even more, as he started coughing up blood. "Don't bother… I can't feel my legs… anyway." He reached inside his jacket, agitating the officer even more.

"Hands where I can see them! Don't do anything stupid!" He threatened.

"Easy, cowboy… Have you ever... dueled?" The mobster pulled a deck of cards, slightly stained with blood. The officer lowered his assault rifle.

"Man, you really think I'd pull a deck of cards in the middle of a tactical response op?!"

"My dad… never lets me play…" The goon spat some more blood between coughs. "He said… I have duties to the… family… no time for… children's card games…" The officer took pity on him, lowering his rifle.

"Cancel med-evac, he won't make it. He has a last wish."

"What am I, Make-A-Wish Foundation? And why are you not in formation with the rest of Alpha team?!" Raffaele was beside himself with anger at the apparent insubordination.

"Well I can't exactly execute him on the spot! I think the bullet he took severed his spine, and he's lost a lot of blood, he won't even make it to the lobby if anyone tries to move him." The officer protested. Raffaele just sighed.

"What does he want?"

"A duel, he has a deck of those cards. You know, Magic or something."

"You're pulling my leg! I can't just send my niece to play card games in the middle of a bullet storm! Tell him it can't be done."

"I have an idea, lieutenant. I'll leave the radio with him on a different frequency, and they can do it remotely. Meanwhile I'll go back to Alpha team and listen in on their radios for orders." Enrico said. Raffaele slapped his forehead.

"This is turning into a circus. The media will eat us alive, the commissioner will eat me alive, and if you people don't start doing your jobs instead of playing Mother fucking Theresa we'll all be suspended! Do it and move back in formation on the double!" He put his walkie-talkie down and wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief. "Ilena! Come here, there's a special assignment for you. A dying mobster wants to duel you on the radio." She just looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "I know how it sounds, but it's true." He raised his shoulders.

"Fine, give me a notepad, a pen and the radio." She pulled the deck off her duel disk and sat on the sidewalk further away from her uncle, so as not to disturb him. Alberto sat beside her to observe.

"My name is Ilena, and I'll be your opponent." She spoke in the walkie-talkie. "You can go first."

"Right, but no... Cheating..." A faint voice replied from the other side of the radio. "I don't have... much time, so... if you draw first... blood... I will tell you... A secret..."

"l'll do my best. Life point cost payment or auto-inflicting of damage doesn't count, right? Only what we do to each other?"

"Yes… I summon Black Stone of Legend… then, with its effect I tribute it… to special summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon… from my deck. Then I… Equip it with… Black Metal Dragon from my hand, increasing… its attack by 600. I set two backrow cards and end my turn." The mobster finally managed to finish his turn, mustering every bit of force he had left to speak, between coughing and brief pauses to catch his breath. Ilena was scribbling down every card he played on her notebook in an attempt to record the duel, since there was no field to look at. Then Ilena picked up a card from her deck.

"My turn."

_

Mauro and his remaining man were running down the stairs when they heard the SWAT team screaming after them to stop and surrender.

"Give me cover fire, I'm out of ammo!" Mauro ordered his man, who shot a burst of bullets upwards in the SWAT team's general direction. Mauro closed the door tightly behind him, blocking his man in the staircase. He'd managed to get to the eighteenth floor, and didn't have the strength to do the remaining floors down to the lobby. So he gambled. It was a long shot, but what other choice did he have. On one hand, Bruno mentioned bombs. On the other, the police were hot on his trail. So he got to that floor's main elevator, and called it. Every second seemed like eternity, so he pressed and punched the button continuously in an attempt to telegraph his hurry to the mindless elevator.

"Bloody hell, finally!" He didn't even wait for the doors to open fully, pushing to get inside, then started punching again, this time the ground floor button. The annoying elevator music made him wish he had a gun, if only to shoot the speaker above him. One member of Bravo team noticed the numbers above the elevator in the lobby and noted the others. When Mauro finally arrived on the ground floor, four guns pointed at his chest stopped him dead in his tracks.

"I suppose you're all wondering why I gathered you all here."

"Shut up, wise-ass. This is Charlie team, we have the secondary target bagged and tagged."

_

Alpha team was back together, with the officer named Enrico having reached them after running down the fire escape stairwell. He saw a dead body on the floor and another SWAT officer trying to force the door to the eighteenth floor.

"Enrico, there you are! We can't open this door, let's continue down." The officer gave up. They kept going down the stairs, when one of them heard voices on the sixteenth floor. He opened the door slightly to take a peek, and noticed two men guarding the door to the cafeteria. He closed it back, then touched his right wrist and raised two fingers. The SWAT sign language signifying two hostiles. He then covered his eyes, and pointed at himself and another officer. They both positioned themselves on both sides of the door, one opened it while the other tossed a flash bang grenade in, then the first closed the door again. After the explosion they all charged in and quickly neutralized the goons. The last one behind the door flipped a table to use it as a cover.

"Don't come in! I have the detonator!" He yelled from inside. Alpha team exchanged looks between themselves.

"What detonator?" One of them asked.

"There are bombs on the four support columns on a certain floor, C4 charges! The timer is already ticking. You come in and I'll force the activation!"

"OK, calm down, we won't come in. Please, tell us how to disarm them. There are fifteen floors full of people in this building, surely you don't intend to drag them all into this!" The officer tried an old trick from the negotiator textbook, to appeal to the mobster's humanity. The snicker coming from inside signified the trick failed.

"Only way to disarm the bombs, officer, is to duel me! I presume the task force's arsenal doesn't include a duel disk and a top tier deck." The goon laughed. Bruno was right, it would be impossible for the task force to disarm the bombs this way, nobody is prepared to play a children's card game in this kind of situation.

"What's with the mafia and trading cards anyway, this is the second time someone asks to play. I'll report the information. Lieutenant, Enrico from Alpha team again. We have a situation, and you won't believe it. Over."

_

"I activate my spell card Teleport, then with its effect, I pay 800 life points to special summon a psychic monster if I don't control any monsters, so I summon Space-Time Police. When this card is special summoned I can target a monster you control and banish it, but if this card leaves the field, the monster will return in face-down defense position. Kiss Red-Eyes Black Dragon goodbye."

"Black Metal Dragon… searches a Red-Eyes card from my deck… when sent to the graveyard. I choose… Red-Eyes Tracer Dragon…"

"Pointless move. Time to spill the beans, because Space-Time Police can attack you directly." Ilena smiled, proud of herself of taking care of this so quickly.

"Not so… fast. Trap card… Compulsory Evacuation Device… then chain, trap card… Light of… Intervention… " The voice on the other side of the line crackled, then burst into a fit of coughs. Ilena spared him the explanation, as the target was obvious.

"Since Space-Time Police has left the field, Red-Eyes returns in face-down defense position. Light of Intervention prevents monsters from being set, so it comes back in face-up defense position. Now I summon Dr. Frankenfind, which allows me to either place a card from the top to the bottom of my deck, or add it to my hand for the price of 500 life points, so I choose…" Ilena looked at the card before deciding. "…To add it to my hand. My next turn's draw phase will be skipped because of this, but that is of no importance, because it ends now. That card is Psychokinesis, which lets me destroy a card you control for the price of 1000 life points, so again, Red-Eyes Black Dragon goes away."

"When a Red-Eyes monster… is destroyed by an effect or attack… Tracer Dragon summons itself from my hand… along with the destroyed monster… in the same position it was… before leaving. Both are in defense…" Ilena added this information to her notepad. Is he trying to stall until he dies?

"Ok then. I activate the field spell card Brain Research Lab, which lets me perform a second normal summon of a psychic monster per turn by placing on Psychic Counter on it. I tribute Dr. Frakenfind to normal summon Overdrive Teleporter, which lets me special summon two level three psychic monsters from my deck by paying 2000 life points. So I choose Risebell the Star Adjuster and Psychic Commander. When Risebell is special summoned I can add up to three levels to a monster I control, so Risebell's level changes from level three to level six. Now I tune Risebell and Psychic Commander to synchro summon Thought Ruler Archfiend. Both my monsters have more attack than your monsters' defense points so they destroy them. At this point in the battle phase I activate the last card in my hand, my quick-play spell card Flash Fusion. By fusing Overdrive Teleporter and Thought Ruler Archfiend I special summon Ultimate Axon Kicker, which attacks you directly. There, now what secret were you going to tell me?" Asked Ilena while collecting her cards from the ground.

"The place is rigged... with bombs." The mobster said between coughs.

"What?! How do you know that?" She dropped the cards she was holding. Alberto, who was sitting beside her with a cigarette in his mouth, choked on the inhaled smoke when he heard.

"Bruno said so..."

"I'm sorry but I can't continue this duel, I have to warn everyone!" She left her cards on the sidewalk and ran to her uncle. "You have to pull everyone out, there are bombs inside!" She cried.

"Say what? How do you know that?"

"The man I was dueling told me. He said Bruno mentioned it."

"Lieutenant, Enrico from Alpha team again. We have a situation, and you won't believe it. Over" Raffaele's walkie-talkie crackled.

"Can you put that in a memo and entitle it Shit I already know? We found out literally seconds before you said it. I was just about to pull everyone out, so I might just do it now. The op is a bust, everyone, due to unforeseen circumstances. All teams get out of there as soon as possible, bomb squad is on the way! I repeat, all teams get out! Over." Raffaele declared.

"Wait, that's not all, they said the only way to disarm the bombs is to duel them. Again dueling. I have no idea what's going on here anymore. Anyway, I'm on the sixteenth floor, the mobster duelist is in the cafeteria."

"Just get out of there, I'll think of something."

"Ilena, Luca is still inside. It's possible he has no idea of the bombs, and we have no direct way of contacting him." Alberto noted.

"We have to go in and pull him out. You heard what Uncle said, the bombs can be disarmed through dueling."

"Are you out of your mind!? You do realize you're talking about bombs?! You can't go inside! Luca is a duelist himself, remember how he wiped the floor with you?! I'm sure he'll be okay." Alberto tried to make her change her mind, but to no avail.

"Luca is with Bruno, he has a different task. There's literally nobody else capable of disarming the bombs, but me!"

"Like hell I'm letting you go inside, Ilena! End of discussion!" Raffaele interrupted them.

"Fine, I'll go take care of it." Alberto sighed. She just looked at him, astonished.

"Kid, I have enough on my plate as it is, without having kids running around playing card games in the middle of my operation." Raffaele was adamant about his decision.

"Do you have anyone in your squads with dueling capabilities you can send in?" Alberto raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"…No."

"And obviously you're not sending your niece in there."

"Obviously."

"Then there's nobody else left but me." He gave Ilena a weak smile and started walking towards the building entrance. "You're an idiot, Alberto." He mumbled to himself as he strapped his duel disk around his left arm. Then, a sudden realization hit him. He turned around to speak.

"Cafeteria on the sixteenth floor, dumbass!" Ilena yelled. He just gave her a thumbs-up with an embarrassed expression on his face, and went in. Shortly after, one by one, the SWAT officers came out running. Raffaele counted them as they passed him by, and noticed Enrico was still inside. He grabbed another member of Alpha team as he ran by, stopping him.

"Where's Enrico, I didn't see him come out."

"He said he's staying inside, sir, to help whoever you send in to disarm the bombs."

"Jesus fucking Christ. Enrico, where are you, I gave you an explicit order to extract. We're sending in a duelist to try and disarm the bombs." He yelled in the walkie-talkie.

"I know, sir, I'll wait for them here and provide back-up. It could still be a trap, and where cards can't help, a gun works wonders. I mean what's he gonna do, throw them like ninja stars?" Raffaele couldn't argue with that.

"True. Ok, do what you must. Listen, if you notice he's losing, just shoot the mobster, there has to be a surrender button on their disk or something. Or exactly that might be what sets off the bombs, but we'll have to risk it. And do try not to get yourselves blown, ok?"

_

"You must be the card game expert. He's inside, waiting. Hold on, I'll announce you first, we don't want to spook him, or you might get shot." Enrico stopped Alberto with his hand. "Hey, listen. We have a duelist here. He'll come in now, and I'm coming with him. You shoot him, I shoot you, and we all die. Nobody wants that. So keep your calm, ok? Ok." Alberto and Enrico both walked in simultaneously. Enrico, being a trained task force officer immediately spotted the mobster behind the table, and instinctively aimed at his head.

"Well kid, you must have balls of steel, coming here like that, I'll give you that. But do you have what it takes to win against me?" The mobster grinned maliciously.

"Only one way to find out, I guess." Alberto shrugged. Enrico crouched beside Alberto, assault rifle constantly aimed at the mobster.

"Now you do what you gotta do, I have you covered. He does one thing that doesn't involve cards and I'll mow him down." He mumbled, only for Alberto's ears. Alberto just nodded.

"I'll go first." The mobster declared as he drew the sixth card.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who died and made you the judge?" Alberto protested.

"The detonator implemented in my duel disk says I decide."

"Fair enough. Proceed."

"I activate my spell card Stumbling! As long as this card is in place, monsters on both sides of the field go automatically in defense mode when normal, special or flip summoned. Then I set three backrow cards and a monster in face-down defense position. That concludes my turn." The goon maintained that hideous smirk on his face, much to Alberto's discomfort.

"I activate my spell card Solar Recharge by discarding one Lightsworn monster from my hand. I discard Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior from my hand to draw two cards, then mill two cards. The cards I milled are Wulf, Lightsworn Beast and Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden, and both activate their effects! When Wulf is milled, he automatically summons himself on the field, only in this case in defense because of Stumbling. On the other hand, when Minerva is milled, she can mill one more card from the top of the deck. The card Minerva Milled is Felis, Lightsworn Archer, and just like Wulf, she special summons herself on the field when milled with a monster effect, again in defense mode thanks to Stumbling. Such a pesky card. Now I normal summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner in defense mode, and immediately activate her effect, which lets me special summon a Lightsworn monster from the graveyard by discarding a card. So I discard Ehren, Lightsworn Monk and summon Minerva. At this point I tune the level four Wulf and Felis to synchro summon Angel of Zera, and the level three Minerva and Lumina to synchro summon Powered Inzektron, which obviously go in defense mode. That concludes my turn." That's a lot of backrow. I better play it safe for now, try to bait some of his traps out before making my push, Alberto thought.

"Not too shabby. But will it be enough? I flip my set monster Jar Turtle! Whenever I activate the trap card Jar of Greed while Jar Turtle is on the field, I can draw two cards instead of only one. I have two Jars of Greed set, which I activate in chain, so I can draw a total of four cards. Now that Jar Turtle's usefulness has ended, I tribute it to advance summon Venom Boa. At this point I activate my field spell card Venom Swamp, followed by Venom Boa's effect that puts two Venom Counters on Agent of Zera. Thanks to Venom Swamp's effect Agent of Zera loses 500 lattack points for each Venom Counter on it, going down from 2800 to 1800 attack. The last card I activate in this turn is Solidarity, which gives my monsters 800 attack points only if all monsters in my graveyard consist of a single type. Since my deck is made only of Reptiles, that's never a problem, so Venom Boa's attack goes up to 2400. In the end phase, Venom Swamp puts a Venom counter on each of your monsters, further reducing Zera's attack to 1300 and Inzektron's attack to 2000. Your move."

Now there's a deck you don't see every day. A rudimentary, yet effective tactic of weakening my monsters enough to overpower them. Sheer force won't do me much good in the long run. That leaves me with two options: end this fast or change my approach, Alberto assessed the situation, then looked at the cards in his hand, contemplating his move. "My turn. I summon Effect Veiler and tune it to the level six Powered Inzektron to synchro summon Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn!" It seemed the gangster was waiting for that exact move, as his response was perfect.

"I activate my trap card Offering to the Snake Deity! By destroying Boa on my side, I can destroy two cards on your side, so kiss Michael and Zera goodbye!" He laughed again with that hideous grin of his.

"Damn it! Well, I activate Foolish Burial which allows me to send a monster from my deck to my graveyard, and I choose Judgment Dragon. That's all."

"You're not the only one that benefits from milling. I activate Snake Rain! By discarding a card I can send four reptiles from my deck to my graveyard. So I discard Vennominion the King of Poisonous Snakes and dump Jar Turtle, Venom Boa, Venom Snake and Venom Serpent. Then I set a card and end my turn." The gangster crossed his arms, a confident smirk curving his lips.

"My turn. I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin, which switches to defense due to Stumbling. That will do for now. During the end phase Jain mills two cards from my deck, which are Dawn knight and Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn. Dawn Knight's effect activates when milled, and allows me to put one Light monster from my graveyard back on top of my deck, so I choose Judgment Dragon."

"You forget Venom Swamp's effect. Jain also gets a Venom Counter which decreases her attack to 1300. My turn. I activate my spell card Viper's Rebirth. If all monsters in my graveyard are reptiles, I can select one of them and summon it on my side of the field, but it's destroyed in the end phase, and I choose Vennominion, who goes to defense due to Stumbling. That concludes my turn. Vennominion is destroyed via Viper's Rebirth, and at this moment I activate my trap card Rise of the Snake Deity. If Vennominion is destroyed, except by battle, I can special Summon Vennominaga, the Deity of Poisonous Snakes from my deck! She has 0 attack points, but gets 500 points for each reptile in my graveyard. Currently I have 7 reptiles, so Vennominaga gets 3500 attack points plus 800 from Solidarity, and goes to defense due to Stumbling. Venom Swamp puts a Venom Counter on Vennominaga, lowering her to 3800 attack, and another one on Jain, who goes down to 800. That would be all for this turn."

Crap, he set this up perfectly. If I don't do something, and quick, Vennominaga will fuck me up, Alberto thought, gritting his teeth. "Good thing I stacked Judgment Dragon to draw him in this turn, otherwise I'd be screwed. I tribute Jain to advance summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, and with her effect I can destroy two trap cards on the field for the cost of four cards milled from my deck. I destroy Stumbling and Light of Intervention. Now that those pesky cards are out of the way, and because I have more than four different Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard, I special summon Judgment Dragon! By paying 1000 life points Judgment Dragon can destroy every card on the field, other than himself!" Judgment Dragon flapped its wings until its holographic figure hovered into the ceiling, then breathed fire on the field, burning away Celestia, Solidarity and Venom Swamp. But Vennominaga was unfazed.

"Vennominaga cannot be targeted by or destroyed by monsters, spells or traps. Judgment Dragon can't do shit."

"Except attack her. Vennominaga only boosts her attack points, not defense, and since Stumbling put her in defense mode when you summoned her, all I have to do is prod her with whatever monster I have and she'll pop like a balloon. Judgment Dragon, attack Vennominaga!" The dragon fired an energy ball at the snake deity, obliterating it.

"Just a minor setback. I banish a reptile monster to special summon Vennominaga back to the field! Since only six reptiles are left, she comes back with 3000 attack points. But that is easily remedied with my spell card Foolish Burial. I send a Venom Serpent from my deck to my graveyard, and this gives Vennominaga 500 more attack, making her more powerful than Judgment Dragon. Vennominaga, attack Judgment Dragon!" The giant gorgon lunged at Judgment Dragon and the two snakes on each arm latched their fangs on its body until it broke down into pixels. "You lose 500 life points, and I activate Vennominaga's last effect! Whenever she inflicts battle damage she gets a Hyper-Venom Counter. Three of those and I automatically win the duel."

"What?!" Alberto took a step back.

"I set a card, and end my turn. Listen, before I defeat you, who exactly are you and why are you here? What do you hope to accomplish?" The gangster asked the question that was on his mind since the beginning of the duel.

"I thought I made that clear. I'm here to disarm the bombs!" Alberto replied.

"Yes, but why? What made you risk your life? Nobody is that selfless. Or stupid, for that matter."

"I have good reason to be here, but it's personal, and I see no reason to divulge it with you." Alberto stated calmly. Anger was slowly boiling inside him, but he tried to suppress it, calm heads prevail.

"I'll tell you the truth, kid. You're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not. A hero. Ain't no place for heroes in this world."

"Dude, whatever. I don't need to self-validate in front of the likes of you." At that point, Luca and Bruno came in, then everyone in the room froze in place for a few seconds to wrap their minds around the situation from their own point of view while exchanging bewildered looks: Bruno when he realized that every single part of his ingenious plan came apart, with the guards of the cafeteria arrested, his last man locked in a pointless duel with some kid, and worst of all, police present exactly where they shouldn't be; Luca when he, much to his surprise, found this kid dueling one of Bruno's men for some reason, and that cop crouching there like an idiot; The cop when he realized Bruno and the mole are still in the building when they should've been arrested by now; the mobster when he saw Bruno being held at gunpoint by one of his most trusted men; and lastly Alberto, who had no idea what was going on all day.

"What the fuck is going on here?" All five exclaimed in choir.

"What the hell are you doing, you moron!?" Bruno screamed at his man.

"I'm stalling while waiting for you to arrive!" The gangster started with the excuses.

"Well isn't that just dandy! Nice fucking job. You do realize you were supposed to keep the police out of the cafeteria."

"Well, the two outside got arrested, what was I supposed to do on my own here?"

"But more importantly, what are you two doing here? Bruno was supposed to be cuffed in a police van by now." Enrico asked Luca.

"I just found out he has the detonator, and the only way to defuse the bombs is to defeat him in a duel." Luca explained. Enrico and Alberto exchanged baffled looks, then looked at him.

"What are you talking about? This thug has the detonator, and I'm dueling to disarm the bombs." Alberto said.

"Oooh, is that what's going on here?" Luca understood everything now. Then he shot the gangster dueling Alberto, to which everybody jumped.

"Are you fucking insane?! I was trying to disarm the bombs here! Why on Earth did you do that for?!" Alberto bellowed, pointing at the dead thug with both open palms.

"So I shot him in the face a little! People can be so judgmental. Plus, he doesn't have the detonator, Bruno would never entrust it to some random thug."

"But was it absolutely necessary to off him like that? I mean we could've used him as a witness or something! His testimony would've been invaluable!" Enrico protested.

"He was a low level soldato, they aren't allowed to know stuff or think for themselves." Luca explained.

"So I have to duel him now to disarm the bombs?" Alberto asked.

"No, I'll do it. We'll settle this with honor, like real men." Then he pistol-whipped Bruno in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Dude, you have issues." Alberto wasn't even mad at this point. Luca detached the duel disk from Bruno's arm and put it on his own.

"It's real simple. If this duel disk disarms the bombs upon losing, then you and me engage in a duel, then I surrender immediately. Problem solved." Said Luca. Alberto and Enrico simply nodded.

"I guess that's one way of going about it." Alberto shrugged. Their duel disks connected and they initiated the duel. Luca drew the sixth card, then surrendered.

"That should take care of the bombs." Luca turned the duel disk off. Then an earthquake shook the whole building, and Luca realized the ruse.

"Son of a bitch duped me! Of course he'd lose in a duel against me! The bombs go off when the duel disk loses, not the other way around like we thought!" Luca screamed above the rumble of the building that was about to collapse on itself. "Quickly, there's a zip line over here!"

"Zipline?" Enrico asked.

"No time, open that window, there's the cord. Bruno first." Luca shot Bruno in the kneecap, then, ignoring Bruno's screams of agony as the pain woke him up, strapped him on the pulley prepared for the first slide, and pushed him down. "Just so he doesn't run away when he gets there. Next, you, cop. No time to pull the pulley back up. Find a way."

"Here, use these to slide to the other side. The chain should hold." Enrico gave the hand cuffs to Alberto, then slid down using the rifle. At that moment, the building started to collapse upon itself, as the last explosion took out the support column the charge was attached to.

"You go next!" Alberto screamed at Luca, shoving the hand cuffs in his hands. Luca knew there was no time for discussion, there was only time for one slide, and with Luca weighing hundred and thirty six kilos there was no way they zip line would hold them both together, so he jumped out the window, flipping the cuffs over the cord and catching them with the other hand. Just as soon as he caught the cuffs, the cord snapped, and he went into a free fall. Luca managed to grab the end of the cord, and fired four shots at the building window he was swinging towards, weakening it enough so he could crash through using his feet as a battering ram as he swung towards it. Bruno's building imploded, and crumbled like it was made of Lego bricks, causing a tidal wave of dust and debris in every direction.

"Enrico! Enrico, do you copy? Enrico, are you there?" Raffaele was bellowing into the walkie-talkie in an attempt to reach his colleague.

"Yes, I'm here. Target is secure. Our guy is also safe with us. We're on the roof of the adjacent building. The kid didn't make it though, there was no time for everyone to escape." Ilena, was beside her uncle, listening in, fell on her knees and let out an agonizing shriek, instantly realizing her friend would not be coming back, before one of the SWAT officers grabbed her and carried her, kicking and screaming, further away from the falling rubble. Raffaele slowly lowered the walkie-talkie, grief-stricken, then gazed upon the rubble.

"And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: One more soldier reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell."

_

Two days later, after the rubble had been cleaned up by a construction company using heavy machinery with the help of the fire brigade and medics on stand-by, they found his body. Luca paid off his own pocket for its shipment back to his family in Soverato, his hometown in Calabria, southern Italy. He and Ilena flew in the same plane as the aluminum coffin to attend the funeral. There was a large crowd of people, young and old, in front of the church where the eulogy was held in. The priest was on a pedestal above the casket, reciting.

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers, life is but an empty dream. For the soul is dead that slumbers and things are not what they seem. Life is real, life is earnest and the grave is not its goal. Dust thou art, to dust returnist, was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow is our destined end or way. But to act that each tomorrow find us farther than today. Art is long, time is fleeting and our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave. In the worlds broad field of battle, in the bivouac of life, be not like the dumb and driven cattle, be a hero in the strife. Trust no future, however pleasant. Let the dead past bury its dead. Act in the living present, heart within and God o'er head."

_

"Hey, are you ok?" Luca approached Ilena, who was sitting on the stairs in front of the church entrance, smoking, make-up smudged from tears. He sat beside her. "He was a good kid. If he'd be any squarer, he'd be a Rubik's cube." His attempt to lighten her mood a little failed miserably, as she burst into tears again.

"Did you know Alberto had an older brother who had died a few years back by the hands of the mafia? A car with a bomb planted in it had exploded while he was passing near it. The typical Italian narrow streets and tall buildings amplified the strength of the explosion, resulting in a total of 27 dead. Now they lost their only remaining son. Again, to the mafia. Whatever Alberto was trying to prove, I could've stopped it from happening. I should've been in there. I was better than him, and would've changed the outcome. Instead I stood idle by as he walked right into the trap knowingly. He paid the price for my arrogance with his life." She flicked the half-smoked cigarette, which burst into tiny sparks as it hit the nearby pillar.

"Listen, we all fell into that trap, he instantly realized I'm an important witness to the mafia trials, and he saved my life at the expense of his own. I'll always be grateful to him for that. But if you need an audience to watch you wallow in guilt, I've got better places to be. Places with girls, and whiskey and dice." Luca got up again, preparing to leave.

"You think I can just shrug this off? Just repress it? Put it somewhere in the back of my head and go on my merry way like it never happened? Well guess what, not everyone is like you! The badass thug with no remorse and no feelings!" She got up too, screaming after him. He turned to meet her gaze.

"Listen Ilena, I've seen a lot of things in my relatively short life so far. Far more than anyone should ever see in a full lifetime. Eventually you learn that the world keeps turning whether you screw up or not. You do what you can. But the weight of the world? It ain't yours to carry."

_

Bruno's and Mauro's trial was one of the biggest mafia trials in Italian history. The event immediately gained world-wide interest, even though, for their protection, was conducted behind closed doors and heavy police presence. They were very well connected and spilled the beans about a lot of people, from mafia crime families to influential politicians and public figures, and this led to a mad chase between the mafia and the police to get to those people. Some were arrested, some… weren't. It all started at an Opera House in Milan, when underboss Gianfranco Pasquallini was gunned down in the middle of his favorite aria. Next there was consigliere Edoardo Costa. He went face first into a plate of poisoned capellini. Soon after that, capo Guilielmo Manfredi had a little "car trouble" on the way to a court hearing. Later, enforcer Antonio "Faccia D'Angelo" Gallo found a quick way to shorten his life sentence with the help of his bed sheets. Numbers man Paolo Rinaldi went missing for a while till he turned up at the zoo's reptile house… as a left ear, a loafer, and sixty-two kilos of alligator droppings. Then Giovanni Carnelli left the business the same way he came into it. In construction. They found him inside a freshly cemented column. His brother Vincenzo Carnelli was on hand when his gentleman's club burned down. They had to have a closed coffin ceremony. As did four made men from the Piccara clan. Nobody likes to talk about what they were made into. Or why the officers who found them stopped buying chops from Ferrara's Butcher Shop.

_

Bogdan was following the Italian news closely from his laptop back at his home in Romania, a background algorithm constantly mining for Bit Coins to be spent on purchasing rare cards in the Dark Web, a vast digital underground where hackers, gangsters, terrorists and pedophiles come to ply their trade.

"All is well when it ends well." He smiled, unaware of the cost his friend had to pay. 


End file.
